Sure, you can put in contract clauses and other private remedies and realistically NBA teams would much rather sign a guy out of their existing ecosystem (2 ways, 10 day contracts, GLeaguers, etc…) before they’d sign a guy out of college and the NBA rookie minimum salary is 1.3 mil and not guaranteed, so a guy might be making more in college anyway.
This article is just confirming what we’ve discussed before along with @haney that there’s nothing in the NBA CBA or structurally elsewhere that prohibits such a move and gives an example of the last time it happened (which was 20 years ago and I have no recollection of).
Tht G-league and the glut of guys on 2-ways make all this moot. No NBA team is going to grab a Euro who’s never played in the NBA over calling up a promising 2-way player who’s impressed in his NBA auditions to date. I love college hoops, but even the worst G-League teams would smoke the vast majority of Top 25 teams.
I am in agreement with you (and @StLouHoo) on this. The G-League should hold more appeal than the college ranks for NBA teams. That said, I still imagine that any future contract written by any competent attorney would include an element of exclusivity for the player’s services. That said, the landscape of intercollegiate athletics, in general, and college basketball in particular, is changing rapidly. I suspect we’re going to see new problems and new solutions to those problems. Predicting the details is problematic.
I think it’s unlikely, maybe highly unlikely, but I’d be be careful about absolutes, in general, and especially given that we are in uncharted waters here.
Right now, I’d guess De Ridder is in that vast grey area between 60-100 or so on NBA draft boards. But if he looks like 20-35 or so pick after a month plus of ACC play and Ohio State? Then it starts to be a possibility.
So think the question is how likely is it that De Ridder gets into the first round** convo. Because why wouldn’t a team take a guy early and beat the draft, if they can?
** I know he won’t really be in the draft, but in that range I mean
Wouldn’t the bigger concern be that an NBA team would be signing a promising player to “claim” them, not to play them immediately? I would think they’d be getting shipped to the G League. Which of course makes all this less appealing to the player, unless that’s all they want, everything else be damned.
I don’t think De Ridder is “NBA Team needs his services right now to take them to the next level” good. I think if he ever makes the NBA he will be like an end of the bench guy and in that case an NBA team would probably just call up a g leaguer to fill that role.
The problem then is lining up a contract that would be mutually acceptable to both the team and player.
Since he’d be a free agent signing, he’d need to fit into cap space, be signed on an exception contract, or be on a two way. Most teams don’t have cap space during the season, or if they do, have better uses for it like taking bad contracts in exchange for draft picks. Teams use their exceptions before the season starts for the most part; teams could offer the minimum, but that’s 1.2 mil this season for guys with no NBA experience, which might not be competitive with college. Two ways are even less competitive salary wise.
Exactly. Sure, the minimum is 1.3m non-guaranteed which is less than he’s probably making now, but every first round pick in the last draft got a multiyear deal starting around 2.3m/year. If a college player plays like a first round pick and is eligible to sign a FA deal, I’m not at all confident they don’t get signed. Sure, it basically never happens, but there have also been very few opportunities for it to happen, and suddenly there are a lot more.
Edit - That all being said, I agree with folks saying it’s unlikely to happen because he’s already 22. If he was 19, could be a different story.
