Congressman Cohen Commends NBA’s Proposed Change to Age Requirement but Questions Delayed Implementation

Congressman Cohen sent a letter to National Basketball Association (NBA) Commissioner Adam Silver commending the league's proposal to alter the NBA draft age requirement but questioning the league's plan to delay the change until 2022.

Congressman Cohen first wrote to the NBA about this issue in 2009.

The full text of today's letter follows:

Commissioner Adam Silver
National Basketball Association
645 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10022

Dear Commissioner Silver:

As a longtime critic[1] of the NBA's current "19 plus 1" policy that requires players to be at least 19 years old and one year removed from their high school classes, I was pleased to see the NBA's proposal to lower the age of eligibility to 18.[2] However, I am both disappointed and confused by the NBA's decision to wait to implement this new policy until 2022.

Delaying this change for three years will only unfairly, and unnecessarily, restrict the professional opportunities – and earning potential – of players who would be otherwise eligible.

As I mentioned in my previous correspondence on this issue, a copy of which is enclosed, I am a firm believer in the value of a college education, but I do not believe that the 19 plus 1 policy has benefited those students who briefly attend college solely because they are not permitted to join the NBA. Instead, a "one-and-done" system has developed, whereby athletes attend college only for the mandatory year and then join the NBA as soon as they are eligible. This system does far more to serve the financial interests of the universities at which the students play than the educational interests of the students themselves.

I am glad the NBA now agrees, but it seems patently unfair to continue to hold three more classes of players to a policy the NBA has rightly disavowed.