Guarantee Lottery Picks, Not Entire Round

The "Basketball for Thought" is a commentary by Kris Gardner.

May 1998

In negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement the NBA, reportedly, is planning to establish a minimum age of 20 in order for players to declare themselves eligible for the Draft.

Why bother?

The Constitution guarantees the courts won't allow that to stand once a player challenges the age requirement. A player can just argue the NBA's minimum age law is "restricting me from earning a living" or something similar.

I don't have a problem with players declaring for the Draft. I do have a problem with those players who have no chance in the world of getting drafted declaring for the Draft just to get their name in print.

The NBA and NCAA established a consulting group to provide players a good indicator of where (if at all) they may go in the Draft. Players either don't seek the group's help or completely ignore the group's advice.

Isiah Thomas, an NBC broadcaster and a former president of the players' union, has an idea: limit the number of rookie guaranteed contracts. Thomas made the suggestion to NBA commissioner David Stern in 1995, when the current rookie salary scale was instituted, but it fell on deaf ears.

"Here's the problem," said Thomas, who entered the NBA in 1981 after his sophomore season at Indiana. "All of the players drafted in the first round get guaranteed money for three years. What the NBA needs to do is have picks one through 14 get guaranteed money and with 15 through 29, you've got to make the team. That way kids out of high school won't be willing to take as much of a risk."

I agree with the idea; however, I propose to just guarantee the Lottery picks (the top 13) because those teams are generally the teams who don't make the playoffs.

The rookie wage scale can still exist; however, contracts past pick number 13 will no longer be guaranteed.

If the idea is accepted and enforced, I'll be interested to see how many guys would declare knowing they won't receive any guaranteed money unless they will be a Lottery pick. In recent years, the players' association has tried to have the Draft eliminated completely or reduced to just one round. They believe players should have the ability to pick which team they can work out and play. With only 13 picks receiving guaranteed money, the union should be pleased.

If players who can't make the necessary college entrance scores or players just simply stop attending classes still declare for the Draft, at least they would know in advance they won't receive a guaranteed salary. Once those players don't make NBA rosters, they can ply their trade in the CBA for 80 bucks a day and ride the bus in hopes of pursuing their dream of being a pro ball player.

CBA Commissioner Steve Patterson has proposed to the NBA and the Players' Association the idea of expanding NBA team rosters to 15 and allowing a maximum of 3 players to be sent to the CBA to improve their skills with the NBA club maintaining the players' rights. For this to be implemented both management and the players' union would have to agree and begin supporting the CBA financially much more than they are presently doing. With the rosters expanded to 15, teams can stop inventing bogus injuries for players and "hiding" them on the injured list. The league promised to crack down on phony injuries. They've failed. How can the league determine if someone doesn't have knee tendinitis or a sore back?