The NBA minimum age requirement is the kind of issue that makes one feel as though all that can possibly be said already has been said. Yet, as last week's news that the players' union may use the abolition of the rule as a bargaining chip proves, it is an issue that still requires some conversation.
When the current rule, which states that a player must be both 19 as of his draft year and that he must be one year removed from high school in order to be eligible for the draft, went into place in 2006, I was cautiously supportive. Although I was fully aware of the class and racial implications that made the issue so heated, and although I was (and still am) a very liberal fan and believer in giving more power to players, I had also seen a lot of heartbreaking career turns that I imagined could have been avoided had this rule been in place. I had seen Darius Miles let mediocrity frustrate him and turn him into a "difficult" player. I had seen Kwame Brown fail to develop at an NBA level and become selfish and, perhaps, delusional. I had seen Jonathan Bender underperform in every way imaginable. I had seen Eddy Curry get eaten alive by the pressures of fame, expectations, and medical issues.
