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In the future, two things will happen as it relates to the NBA Draft. The early entrant list will be UBER long. NBA teams will begin drafting “projected” prospects in an effort to lock in the next one—where players attend camps, explore overseas options, get cut, and then enroll in college. Think Larry Bird.
At first glance, this idea may sound far-fetched. But when you zoom out and look at the direction both the NBA and NCAA are moving, it feels far more inevitable than radical. The early entrant list is already swelling as declaring for the draft becomes less about leaving college and more about gathering information. Players now use the process to receive real feedback, test their value, and return to school with clarity—and often leverage. As the NCAA continues to loosen its language around professionalism, the stigma attached to “testing the waters” continues to disappear.
The real shift, however, comes when we stop framing this as amateur versus professional and start calling it what it actually is: development versus employment. Not every drafted player is ready to be employed by an NBA franchise, but many are worth developing. Once both the NBA and NCAA acknowledge this distinction, hybrid pathways become much easier to justify. Draft rights don’t have to mean immediate paychecks or roster spots—they can represent long-term investment in potential.
From the NBA’s perspective, drafting projected prospects allows teams to secure upside early while managing risk. With expanded G-League infrastructure, international partnerships, and evolving two-way contracts, development no longer has to happen exclusively under one roof. From the NCAA’s perspective, college basketball becomes a structured, competitive development environment rather than a false amateur destination. Players can continue to grow, earn through NIL, and prepare themselves physically and mentally for the next level without the pressure of immediate professional employment.
The Larry Bird comparison isn’t about recreating the past—it’s about rethinking timelines. Draft rights once existed independently of instant NBA participation, and that model may quietly return in a modern form. As the line between amateur and professional continues to blur, college basketball’s role will continue to evolve. The future of the game won’t be clean or traditional, but it will be honest. And once the sport fully embraces development versus employment, conversations like this stop sounding hypothetical and start sounding necessary.
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