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Mavericks owner Mark Cuban 'fine' with NBA lowering draft age, but cautioned young players

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said he’s fine with the NBA lowering its age minimum, but he cautioned young players who could “fall hard.” (AP/Ron Jenkins)
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said he’s fine with the NBA lowering its age minimum, but he cautioned young players who could “fall hard.” (AP/Ron Jenkins)

The NBA reportedly made an official proposal to the National Basketball Players Association to lower the age a player can be drafted into the league from 19 to 18 last week.

The goal, which NBA commissioner Adam Silver has long supported, is to lower the age for the 2022 draft — which is when the current collective bargaining agreement expires.

This movement has gained steam in recent years, as more and more college players seem ready to make the immediate jump from high school to the professional level. Duke superstar Zion Williamson is the latest among that field of players.

While Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said he’s “fine” with lowering the draft age, he knows a multitude of problems will likely come with it.

The first, he said, doesn’t even have anything to do with basketball — but rather the life skills, or lack thereof, that many young one-and-done players have upon entering the league.

“Got here, didn’t know how to write a check, didn’t know how to sign a lease,” Cuban told the Dallas Morning News. “Just needed somebody basically to hold their hand and it made things difficult for them.

“It’s hard to focus on your profession when you don’t even know how to focus on the everyday skills that are required for life.”

Now, not every 18-year-old will lack the “life skills” needed to survive as an NBA player. And not every 18-year-old kid is as talented as Williamson.

But when the “next Zion Williamson” does come along, Cuban had some advice: Skip the collegiate level, but don’t jump right to the NBA either.

“The next kid in a similar circumstance, go to the G League, or Europe,” Cuban told the Dallas Morning News. “If you want the international adventure and the exposure to a different type of basketball and different skill sets, go to Europe. If that’s not your thing and you’re not in-tuned to it for whatever reason, and you’ve got a big social media following like Zion Williamson? Go G League.”

While the base salary in the G League is just $7,000 a month, and there only a select few major contracts in the league, players have a lot more freedom in that league to earn money through other avenues.

“You may be better off controlling your own destiny and taking advantage of the most money because in the G League you aren’t subject to the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement,” Cuban told the Dallas Morning News. “You get to control your appearances and your endorsements and do whatever you damn well please in the short term. You can go sign whatever contract you want.”

Social media influencers, endorsements and a potential AAU problem

Cuban did note, however, that the recruiting and AAU landscape has changed immensely in recent years. There are more and more players and teams with massive social media followings, something that has helped generate incredible amounts of exposure.

The next Williamson-caliber player with a huge social media following to come along, he said, could end up earning $3 million to $4 million annually in endorsements alone.

While that will be extremely tempting for many young players who come along, especially if the draft age is lowered, there is a dangerous side to it — particularly at the AAU level.

And if it doesn’t work out, young players could stumble fast.

“The really bad unintended consequence is you’re going to see AAU programs and parents push harder to get kids featured, maybe at the expense of their education, maybe at the expense of really learning how to play basketball because they’ve got coaches that are telling him, ‘Yeah, he’s got a chance to be a ‘none-and-done,'” Cuban told the Dallas Morning News.

‘”You want your kid to be none-and-done? Come play for me, be part of my program.’ There’s going to be a lot of people pimping ‘none-and-done’ and you’re going to see a lot of kids fall hard and be ineligible, all kinds of issue.”

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