1 of 41

Write now Article Tools

My son will soon graduate from high school. Since entering high school, he has excelled and is now known as one of the best in the nation. He deserves it because he has been working since birth towards being the best.

Last week, we got our first letter telling us how much they would like to meet my son and get to know him better. They assured us their visit would be discreet, polite and they would not attempt to put any pressure on our family. One of them even mentioned that they might be interested in the signing of a quick contract that could be worth millions. The signing bonus alone would pay off our mortgage.

As I pondered the situation, it occurred to me that if I sent my son off to college, he would probably be able to get even better at what he does, and that would make his first contract even bigger than these piddling offers we were now getting. But then I also considered the possibility that something might happen to him at school. He could become a party animal! He could get a brain aneurysm! He could get in trouble with the police and ruin his future value!

What should we do?

The first thing we did was shot off an e-mail to Microsoft, and told them that if they had a serious interest, that they needed to come up with a better offer.

Microsoft? Of course, what did you think? That I was going to sign my son up in the NBA? He's a world class programmer, not a basketball player.

But what is the difference? If my child was getting ready to graduate high school, and was to get a legitimate job offer from a legitimate business, then I would want him to consider the offer even if it meant he did not attend college. Trying to set an arbitrary age limit on when a person can start to play professional basketball is capricious and unfair. We would not blink twice over an 18-year old going to work for a software company, but when it comes to the NBA, we want to insist on an age limit?

Think about why there would be for entering the NBA.

It is all about the money. Not money for you, but money for the colleges and the NCAA. If they can force a high schooler to attend college for even one or two years and not get into professional basketball, then the schools who receive this basketball prodigies will rake in millions of dollars extra in box office revenues. The NCAA will also stand to earn millions of dollars from using these same players to promote things such as the NCAA tournament, television revenue, etc...

So why is setting an age limit in the NBA such a hot issue? Because just about everyone else wants to take the money out of the pockets of a star basketball prodigy and line their own pockets with it.

Learn more about this author, Alan Fernald.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about NBA age limit issue?
We want to hear your view. Write now!