On Wednesday, the NCAA announced they are going to switch things up, allowing “elite” high school and college players to have an agent and also allows them to go back to school if they are not drafted.
Jeff Goodman on Twitter
NCAA announces it is implementing several recommendations: – Players can be repped by agents. – Agents must be certified by an NCAA program – Players can be eligible for NBA Draft and return to school if undrafted.
Although these changes are better than the status quo, the main issue is players are still not getting paid and they can’t use their likeness to reap financial benefits.
As ESPN’s Jay Bilas points out, these are just surface fixes to the much larger corrupt NCAA apparatus. The major issues aren’t actually being addressed.
Jay Bilas on Twitter
This is largely meaningless window dressing. Only Combine invitees can return? Only “elite” players can have agents? So, we only “care” about top rated guys? NCAA hasn’t even decided upon a coherent transfer policy yet. https://t.co/T423IzrTzu
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the NBA appears to be caught off guard and not exactly thrilled with the decision.
Adrian Wojnarowski on Twitter
Few are pleased w/ NCAA’s handling of release. USA Basketball and the NBA were blindsided w/ NCAA dictating USAB would decide which HS players could eventually hire agents. USAB doesn’t have desire or infrastructure for those evaluations. If anyone has that expertise, it’s NBA.
The NCAA, which reportedly was under FBI investigation as of February, will continue to operate with scandals as long as the players don’t get paid what they deserve.
