On The “One and Done” Rule of The NBA
Upon exploring the landscape of the current NBA, viewers can clearly see that some of the greatest minds in the history of the National Basketball Association did not attend a college or university. In fact, one particular player who is widely touted as the best in basketball today, LeBron James was drafted into the NBA as the Number One Overall Pick directly after graduating high school. Up to the current point of his illustrious career, James proceeded from his draft day to win multiple awards, including: Rookie of the Year, four MVP Awards, three NBA Championships, three NBA Finals MVP Awards, and an NBA Scoring Title (Land of Basketball). Another NBA great, otherwise known as Kobe Bryant, was also drafted directly out of high school. Bryant also proceeded to win multiple awards and championships within his dedicated twenty-year long career with the Los Angeles Lakers. These players, and other high school drafts were obviously providing great displays of talent that caused scouts to alert NBA teams to jump towards the opportunity of acquiring those players as assets. Just prior to the 2006 NBA Draft, however, the Association implanted the “One-and-Done” Rule, in order to restrict players from being drafted out of high school, as they would be required to play at least one year of college, or overseas play. This rule also restricts players from entering the league should they not be at least the age of 19.
One of the inherent problems with the “One-and-Done” Rule is that it threatens the overall wellbeing of the players who wish to enter the league. Giving great players more playing time prior to entering the league gives way to the opportunity of injury in tandem. Such strenuous activity as the opposing challenges increase wears down on the bodies of these young players and can be detrimental to their careers following. Above that, they’ll be left to deal with the complete repercussions of that, as they do not earn income at the college level. The case seems to essentially be that these players are being used to create revenue for the college institutions that they play for. However intriguing and good of a business move this may be, if one were to consider the fact that many of the high school draftees proceeded to carry out great, wealthy careers that severely influenced the revenue of the individual, the team they play for, and the league itself; it could be clearly noted that the morally positive decision would be to allow draftees that meet certain organizations’ criteria to be drafted directly from high school should that be a wish.
Throughout the vast period of the NBA’s history, there have consistently been players drafted from both high school and college level play; as well as many players drafted from international play. Nonetheless, we received masterful showcases from the world’s best basketball players from each of the aforementioned backgrounds. The NBA and NCAA argue in tandem in favor of the idea that players need to receive at least one level of college play before becoming eligible for the NBA Draft. For obvious legal reasons, they did not technically issue this idea in their rulings. What is noted, however, is that in order for a prospect to be eligible for the NBA Draft, he must be at least of the age of 19, and one year removed from his high school graduation date (NCAA.org). Granted, these players wouldn’t consider ignoring the sport they’ve devoted much of their lives to for an entire year. Thus, due to the NBA’s “One-and-Done” Rule, prior to the completion of their senior year of high school, players begin to get scouted and recruited to basketball programs at the plethora of universities and colleges around the country. Considering all of this information, it seems as if the NBA’s “One-and-Done” Rule may have been put in place as a cash-grab for the colleges, or universities, that recruit and sign high level prospects; in exchange for more expansion of the sport of basketball at the professional level, inevitably increasing revenue for the league. It can be easily interpreted as a solid, smart business move; yet it still remains as inherently immoral.
An initial issue with the “One-and-Done” Rule is that it opens the door to an increased risk of injury prior to the prospects entrance into the league. For example, we have the case of Zion Williamson, who has just recently undergone an early-game injury to the knee. Williamson, Duke starting forward, had been drawing comparisons to some of the greatest in the history of basketball, including: LeBron James, Charles Barkley, and Blake Griffin. The injury seemed, and was, so disastrous that many NBA Players took to the realm of social media to give their two cents about the event. One encapsulating tweet, made by NBA star Donovan Mitchell, quotes, “Again let’s remember all the money that went into this game… and these players get none of it… and now Zion gets hurt… something has to change @NCAA”. Herein lie the moral problems that exist with the rule that the NBA has put in place for potential prospects. Not only is the young, talented, promising athlete in Zion Williamson’s professional basketball career now threatened by this injury; he is also not being compensated for his play for Duke, all the while Duke was raking in income due to his and his teammates play. This path could have been altered had the “One-and-Done” Rule not been in place, as Williamson would’ve had access to a higher echelon of medical and training staff, dieting, gear, etc. This leads one to believe that the NCAA could actually care less about the futures of the prospects that they place at the forefront of every coming year; and thus, calls into question the validity of the NBA’s level of care for its players.
Another problem with the “One-and-Done” Rule is the blatant display of its lack of necessity. If the purpose of influencing NBA prospects out of high school to play at the college level is solely to provide them with higher level competition and training, then there would be little backing for credentialed NBA scouts and analysts to close in on draft classes that are a half-decade away from our current point. The ever-popular LaMelo Ball is projected to be drafted at Number 3 in the 2020 NBA Draft by the Washington Wizards (Fisher). Ball is an extremely talented young prospect who has been getting considered and prepped for NBA level play since his early ages of high school. He is the youngest of three brothers; one in which is currently in the NBA, budding elite point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers, Lonzo Ball, and the other who recently reached a stalemate in his career as a shooting guard for UCLA, LiAngelo Ball. Seeing as LaMelo received an esteemed amount of hype surrounding his name, eventually becoming known as the best player of the three brothers, could one honestly perceive why he would necessarily need to be held back from the NBA directly after graduating high school? If the “One-and-Done” Rule were necessary, why would any NBA Scouts consider using their work time to view players who are not at the college level?
As the NBA implemented the “One-and-Done” Rule, more and more players, staff, and fans alike began to realize what the reality of it was. This rule is nothing more than an immoral, yet intelligent business strategy in order to drive in more revenue and support for the sport of basketball. What is ignored is the overall wellbeing of the players that risk their bodies in order to become eligible for professional play and increase their own value as a player. Yet during college play, which is unfortunately the road most traveled for many NBA prospects, they do not receive any physical compensation for their value and production as players. While it is imaginable that the competition, fan support, and training is greatly appreciated by these players, it is also deserved and not the extent of what they deserve. At the end of the day, it seems as if the organizations are taking advantage of great prospective players and risking their physical health, masking it as “providing young players with the ‘next level’ of play”.
Works Cited:
“Land Of Basketball.com.” NBA Players: LeBron James Profile and Basic Stats, 2019, www.landofbasketball.com/nba_players/j/lebron_james.htm.
“The One-and-Done Dilemma | An NCAA Champion Feature.” NCAA.org – The Official Site of the NCAA, Champion Magazine, 2018, www.ncaa.org/static/champion/the-one-and-done-dilemma/.
Fisher, Ben. “Projecting The Top 7 Picks Of The 2019, 2020, And 2021 NBA Drafts.” TheSportster, TheSportster, 25 Dec. 2018, www.thesportster.com/basketball/projecting-top-picks-of-next-three-nba-drafts/.
Our goals for this assignment were to argue your position on one of the assigned topics, demonstrating in the process a strong opening paragraph, a multi-perspective argument based on an arguable claim, correct MLA citation and works cited page formatting, the smooth integration of quotes, and credible research used meaningfully to develop the argument.
You chose an interesting topic and made several insightful points about it. However, there were still issues we’ll want to work on with the next paper. Areas of concern are marked on the following table. For a fuller description of the criteria for each grade, consult the grading scale posted on our Moodle site. Especially keep in mind the importance of correct MLA citation and formatting. If those areas were issues in your paper, they must be fixed before the proficiency.
| Writing Skill | Minor errors | Major errors |
| MLA formatting, which requires one-inch margins, Times New Roman 12 text, double-spaced lines, indented paragraphs, a correct heading on the first page, a correct header in the upper right-hand corner of each page, and a centered title |
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| The opening paragraph, which should avoid filler information, introduce the topic, establish some context for the debate around the topic, and deliver a strong arguable claim establishing the student’s argumentative stance on a debatable issue |
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| The body paragraphs, which should each offer a supporting point that is clearly connected to the claim, builds on the previous supporting points, does not repeat earlier information, and is substantiated with research |
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| Quoting, which requires an introduction that is grammatically consistent with the quote and correct punctuation with a closing quotation mark at the end of the quote, a space, the citation in parentheses, and then the period |
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| MLA citation, which requires the author’s last name and page number or, if there is no author listed, the title of the article in quotation marks and the page number, with a citation and matching works cited entry for all borrowed information |
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| Grammar, which should be free of errors
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| Works cited page formatting, which requires “Works Cited” centered at the top of the page, un-indented first lines and hanging indents, alphabetical ordering, correct quotation marks and italics, and all pieces of information for each entry |
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| Paper requirements, including the number of academic sources, the types of sources, the number of quotes, and the minimum page length with MLA formatting applied |
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With the penalties applied, this paper meets most of the criteria for a…
14.5/25 = 58 F
How to Fix the Most Common Issues in 102 Papers
MLA Formatting
- How to set your margins in Word
- How to change the font and font size in Word
- How to double-space in Word
- How to set the indents in Word
- What goes in the upper left-hand corner of the first page
Introducing Quotes and MLA Citations
- Introducing your quotes: Little, Brown Handbook, page 608
- What goes in an in-text citation: Little, Brown Handbook, page 635
- How to format your works cited page: Little, Brown Handbook, page 644