{"id":380050,"date":"2025-12-31T20:01:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T20:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/380050\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T20:01:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T20:01:07","slug":"ncaa-attempts-to-clarify-nba-stance-after-baylor-adds-2023-draft-pick-college-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/380050\/","title":{"rendered":"NCAA attempts to clarify NBA stance after Baylor adds 2023 draft pick | College sports"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NCAA<\/a> said Tuesday it would not grant eligibility to any player who had signed an NBA contract after Baylor\u2019s midseason addition of a 2023 draft pick who had been playing professionally in Europe prompted criticism from coaches across college basketball.<\/p>\n

The Bears announced the signing of 7ft center James Nnaji of Nigeria on Christmas Eve. He could make his debut Saturday in Baylor\u2019s Big 12 opener at TCU.<\/p>\n

Nnaji was the first pick of the second round, 31st overall, by the Detroit Pistons two and a half years ago. His draft rights have since been traded to Boston, then Charlotte and most recently the New York Knicks in October 2024. The 21-year-old Nnaji, who was playing in Europe before he was drafted, hasn\u2019t been on an NBA roster. He was 18 when he was drafted.<\/p>\n

International players with varying backgrounds, including professional leagues, have played college basketball for years. With players now getting paid under name, image and likeness (NIL) deals, college teams have added players from the NBA\u2019s developmental G League.<\/p>\n

The NCAA said players wouldn\u2019t be eligible if they signed regular NBA contracts or two-way deals that involve G League affiliates. But the association said that won\u2019t necessarily apply to G League players without NBA deals, or other professional leagues in the U.S. and elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs schools are increasingly recruiting individuals with international league experience, the NCAA is exercising discretion in applying the actual and necessary expenses bylaw to ensure that prospective student-athletes with experience in American basketball leagues are not at a disadvantage compared to their international counterparts,\u201d NCAA president Charlie Baker said in a statement released by the association. \u201cRules have long permitted schools to enroll and play individuals with no prior collegiate experience midyear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arkansas coach John Calipari said he wasn\u2019t criticizing Baylor\u2019s Scott Drew or others trying to add players amid a shifting college landscape. But he said a rule should clearly disqualify any NBA draft pick.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t blame coaches,\u201d Calipari said. \u201cLet me give you this, real simple … If you put your name in the draft \u2013 I don\u2019t care if you\u2019re from Russia \u2013 and you stay in the draft, you can\u2019t play college basketball. Well, that\u2019s only for American kids. What? If your name is in that draft and you got drafted, you can\u2019t play, because that\u2019s our rule. But that\u2019s only for American kids. OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drew defended the move by pointing to other undrafted international players who are playing college basketball right now. Nastja Claessens, a 2024 third-round WNBA draft pick, is averaging 10.6 points in 11 games for the Kansas State women this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil we get to collective bargaining, I don\u2019t think we can come up with rules that are agreeable or enforceable,\u201d Drew said. \u201cUntil that, I think all of us have got to be ready to adjust and adapt to what\u2019s out there. Early on, when it first came out with G League players, I wasn\u2019t in favor of that either. But again, we don\u2019t make the rules and as we find out about things, we\u2019re always going to adapt to put our program in the best position to be successful, because that\u2019s what we get paid to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NCAA said court rulings in lawsuits challenging eligibility standards are making its rules difficult to enforce. Attorneys for Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, who is suing for more eligibility, latched on to Baylor\u2019s signing of Nnaji to try to bolster their argument.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the NCAA has prevailed on the vast majority of eligibility-related lawsuits, recent outlier decisions enjoining the NCAA on a nationwide basis from enforcing rules that have been on the books for decades \u2013 without even having a trial \u2013 are wildly destabilizing,\u201d Baker said in the statement. \u201cI will be working with D-I leaders in the weeks ahead to protect college basketball from these misguided attempts to destroy this American institution.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NCAA said Tuesday it would not grant eligibility to any player who had signed an NBA contract…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380051,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-380050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}