by Zach Bigalke

Created on: June 06, 2007   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

Given the current rule in the NBA that forbids any player entering the league prior to their nineteenth birthday or until they are one year removed from high-school graduation, it seems like this question is a non-starter. Student-athletes are, first and foremost, students - though that is too often forgotten in this current age of athletics as big business. With the advent of AAU basketball, McDonald's All-Americans, and game schedules which keep high-school kids out of classes for months at a time, these student-athletes have more pressure than ever to perform. With college athletic directors and coaches already bidding for their talents, having NBA scouts and representatives would further cheapen an already-watered-down academic career.

With the perception that these players, many born into a culture which prizes athletic skills and moneymaking above brainpower and knowledge, are nothing but overpaid thugs, it seems prudent to let these students get some benefit from their class schedule. With their time already cut into by so many practices and games, recruiting pressures would cause even more to become multimillionaires going for GEDs. These kids are always going to have ample opportunity to become better athletes; too many are missing out on the opportunity to become well-rounded, productive members of society.

Players such as Kobe Bryant, who entered the league directly from high school, have otherworldly basketball talent - and little public-relations savvy. They know how to comport themselves on the hardwood, and are grossly incompetent on the field of real life. Denying them their one chance to be teenagers lacks any benefit beyond the NBA team procuring their hoops skills. Players with too many pressures to get the payday NOW often fail to pan out when unrealistic expectations are placed upon their young heads (see: Kwame Brown). For every Lebron James who is mature enough to handle the pressures immediately, there are a dozen kids who aren't even ready to leave the old neighborhood. Let the teenagers be teenagers; there is time enough yet to recruit them onto the big men's court of the NBA.

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