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The NCAA will now allow certain players to sign with NCAA certified agents and return to school if they go undrafted, according to Jeff Goodman.
NCAA announces it is implementing several recommendations:
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) August 8, 2018
- 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.
However, the NCAA is limiting which players can and cannot return to school. A player can only return to school if they are invited to the NBA Combine and still are not drafted. This year, nearly 70 players attended the NBA combine. This means only 20-30 of those players likely went undrafted and could benefit from this new rule.
One note on this. The exact language the NCAA is using: "College basketball players who request an Undergraduate Advisory Committee evaluation, participate in the NBA combine and aren’t drafted can return to school.”
— Sam Vecenie (@Sam_Vecenie) August 8, 2018
So it’s only for combine invites. Which is limiting and silly
The NCAA will have plenty of questions to answer among these new changes. Goodman also pointed out the possibility of a school filling a player’s scholarship before the draft, thus leaving no room for the player to return if he goes undrafted.
As for the players who will be allowed to sign with agents, USA Basketball will determine which prospects are “elite” and therefore allowed to sign with an agent. Players must also terminate contracts with agents once enrolled in school.
Seems to be a lot of caveats to the "HS/college players can have agents":
— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) August 8, 2018
- College players can hire them after any season if they request an eval from the NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee
- The agreement "must be terminated when the student enrolls in or returns to college."
To the surprise of probably no-one, the NCAA looks like it is doing something beneficial for its athletes when in reality there are many questions to be answered.