NEW YORK -- Armed with majority support from owners and saying "we're ready to go," NBA commissioner Adam Silver made it clear that pushing back the league's age minimum to 20 is at the top of his priority list.
The league's owners hosted NCAA president Mark Emmert to discuss the issue as part of their annual two-day spring meeting this week. Any changes wouldn't be in place by next season because the league is waiting for the players' association to name an executive director before formally starting negotiations. But it's clear there's a growing momentum to force this occasionally divisive issue through soon, possibly in time for the 2016 draft.
Silver, who was presiding over his first board of governors meeting since taking over from former commissioner David Stern in February, said the league and the NCAA have discussed creating some programs and provisions to help players stay in college longer as part of a way to get the union to accept the changes.
When the league and the players' union signed the collective bargaining agreement in 2011, it was agreed that the current one-and-done college rule could be revised at any time. The players' union recently named Sacramento mayor and former NBA player Kevin Johnson to head a committee to name a new leader by the start of the 2014-15 season.
"If we're going to be successful in raising the age from 19 to 20, part and parcel in those negotiations goes to the treatment of players on those college campuses and closing the gap between what their scholarships cover and their expenses," Silver said. "We haven't looked specifically at creating a financial incentive for them to stay in college. That's been an option that has been raised over the years, but that's not something that is on the table right now."
In addition, Silver said Emmert and the team owners talked about other ways to potentially ease a player's transition from college to the NBA. This could include changes in officiating and game play, such as reducing the NCAA's shot clock, which is 35 seconds compared to the NBA's 24.
Some have suggested that players who must wait two years to enter the draft would be better off playing in other professional leagues such as the NBA Development League, which doesn't have an age limit, or going overseas.
"I'm reading and listening to college players and the other side saying development may be better outside the NBA or the environment isn't ideal in college," Silver said. "I think those are all things we have to look at."
NBA changing age to enter draft is top of the list
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