NCAA President Mark Emmert: NBA Should Let HS Players Pursue Pro Opportunities

Although high school basketball players need to wait a year before potentially joining the NBA, NCAA President Mark Emmert believes there should be a better option.

"I personally think that there needs to be more room for individuals who want to pursue professional sports to be able to do that, particularly in basketball," Emmert said in a news conference Thursday, per Myron Medcalf of ESPN. "There needs to be the ability for a young person and his family to say, 'You know, what I really want to do is just become a professional ballplayer.' And they ought to be provided that opportunity if they don't want to go to college."

This comes on the heels of McDonald's All-American Darius Bazley choosing to decommit from Syracuse and instead join the G League, per Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports.

As Jeff Borzello of ESPN reported, however, Bazley will have his salary capped at $26,000.

Although players used to be able to jump directly from high school to the NBA, the one-year minimum was implemented in 2006. This created dozens of "one-and-done" players who leave after their freshman year of college.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has recently discussed readjusting the age minimum, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN. The ability to build the G League as it was intended could play a major role.

"Are we better off bringing them into the league when they're 18, using our G-League as it was designed to be as a development league, and getting them minutes on the court there," Silver said in February, via Jack Maloney of CBS Sports.

This is what Emmert sees as a holdup compared to a sport like baseball, where players can become professional right after high school.

"Baseball has this very large, very successful minor league system," the NCAA president said Thursday. "Basketball has a very modest one. And football has none. So every one of them is different."

The Commission on College Basketball could provide some insight in April after studying the situation over the past few months.