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In a viral TikTok video, a law school student claims he found a loophole and got into the NBA Draft player pool. Here is an explanation of how he did it.
WASHINGTON, D.C., USA — The Washington Wizards changed the direction of the franchise with a pair of trades completed in the hours before the 2023 NBA Draft.
The biggest story at the draft was Victor Wembanyama, the French sensation picked first overall by the San Antonio Spurs. Another big story was about someone who had no chance of getting picked.
A law student who has gone viral on TikTok and earned national media attention for saying he found a way to get into the draft pool without being a basketball player.
QUESTION:
Can a person become eligible for the NBA Draft if they do not play basketball?
SOURCES:
ANSWER:
No, you do not have to be a basketball player to be eligible for the NBA Draft.
WHAT WE FOUND:
Jordan Haber earned thousands of new TikTok followers in the last few weeks. He posted a video in which he said he won a bet with his friends by finding a way to get his name on the list of players eligible for the 2023 NBA Draft.
He claimed he found out how by reading the NBA's collective bargaining agreement.
The collective bargaining agreement is the contract between the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association. Among other things, it sets the rules for player eligibility.
Under Article X of the agreement, to be eligible for the draft, a player must be at least 19 years old during the year of the draft, and at least one NBA season must have passed since their high school class graduated.
Then, there is another set of criteria, of which the person must meet at least one. Among them, a person can be eligible if they graduated from a four-year college within the year of the draft or if four years have gone by since their high school class graduated. To be considered for the "early entrant" list, a person can become eligible before four years have passed if they write to the league at least 60 days ahead of the draft and attest to their eligibility.
However, the terms say nothing about playing experience or skill, so whether you starred for a major-conference team or merely watch games on TV, you can consider yourself draft-eligible.
In his TikTok video, Haber said he wrote an email to the NBA and filled out paperwork to become eligible, which is the process early entrants go through. The email address to which he sent his request is listed on documents the NCAA provided to colleges on multiple occasions to help players who want to get evaluations from the NBA's Undergraduate Advisory Committee or place their names in the draft.
The agreement adds that a person may only be eligible for the draft twice. Someone who is too old to be eligible for the draft may still enter the league as a free agent.
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