NBA Draft Eligibility Rules

The NBA Draft is a critical time for teams to improve their squad by drafting a young player who can develop into a star. However, there are a set of rules that decide whether or not a certain person is eligible to be drafted. The newest change, and probably the biggest change in draft history, caused the most change. Simply put, there are two major rules. First, a player must be at least nineteen years old during the calendar year of the draft. If a player was born during or before a year nineteen years ago, they are considered eligible to be drafted. The second rule is that a player that is not considered an international player must have completed at least one year of college after the graduation of high school.

A player must fall under both categories in order to qualify for the draft. For example, in the 2007 NBA Draft, O.J. Mayo was nineteen years old but had not completed his one year of college. Therefore, he had to go to college for one year and declared for the 2008 draft.

A player must declare for the draft sixty days before the draft. This is because after this date, NBA scouts attend camps to watch individual workouts and learn more about the players. The final declaration date is ten days before the draft. A player can withdraw his name any time before this, but cannot remove his name within the ten day period. A player that declares for the draft will not be eligible for college, regardless of whether or not he is drafted or not, if he signs an agent or he has withdrawn his name from a previous NBA draft.

Another complication that arises is the definition of "international player". For draft purposes, a player must meet all the following criteria. First, they must have lived outside of the United States for at least three years before the draft. They must also have never enrolled in a college or university located in the United States. Thirdly, they must have not completed high school in the United States.

A player can have automatic eligibility, too, if one of the following criteria is met. First, they are eligible if they have completed all four years of college. Second, they are eligible if they have graduated from a high school in the U.S. but did not enroll in a U.S. college. Thirdly, if four years have passed since their high school class graduated, then they are eligible. Lastly, they can be drafted if they have signed a contract with a professional team outside of the NBA and have played under that contract.

Wikipedia, Eligibility for the NBA Draft