NBA Draft Withdrawal Date Proposal: Latest Details, Comments and Reaction
In an effort to prevent college underclassmen from making poor decisions regarding their draft status, the NBA and NCAA are considering pushing back the withdrawal date for the NBA draft.
According to ESPN.com's Andy Katz, the proposal would move that date from late April to late May, which would allow potential NBA prospects to gather more information regarding their stock.
If enacted, this is a move that Kentucky head coach John Calipari would applaud, per Katz.
"This may be one of the best things the NABC [National Association of Basketball Coaches] has ever done," Calipari said. "This is the first time the NABC understood that they represent the players."
As part of this proposal, an invitation-only combine will take place in mid-May, and the hope is that players will return to school if they are not selected. According to Katz, NCAA Vice President of Men's Basketball Championships Dan Gavitt thinks the invites will be a good barometer for whether certain prospects are viewed as potential first-round picks:
"The message being sent to an underclassman not invited would be 'Your odds of getting drafted are slim and none.' That's a powerful thing, and it takes the coaches and the NCAA out of the mix. This is an NBA evaluation. Then, if you go, a few days after the process, there will be communication from all 30 teams with detailed projections of potential lottery pick on down. It's a significant first step, and hopefully the players' association will see that we are trying to improve the game at every level and the decision-making process for the kids and families.
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Rob Dauster of College Basketball Talk is among those who believe this type of system is long overdue:
Many talented players have damaged their prospects by entering the NBA too early rather than returning to school for more seasoning. This proposal wouldn't necessarily eliminate that, but it would allow players to make more informed decisions.
That would conceivably improve the college basketball landscape with more players opting to remain in college, and it could also be an asset to the NBA in terms of spreading talent out across multiple drafts.
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