Nba Age Limit Should Be Abandoned

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The NBA age limit rule should be abandoned because it violates the Sherman anti-trust act, it is age discrimination, and it is against public policy. An Oregon high school senior could successfully challenge the rule by showing the age limit rule primarily affects people who are not in the market and that he was not hired because of his age. This paper will first give a brief introduction in the NBA age limit and its history, then examine the antitrust claim and state discrimination claim, and finish with a public policy discussion. The NBA age limit dates back to 1969, when it was first imposed by the NBA. This rule stated that a person would not be eligible for the draft until four years removed from high school. Spencer Haywood was the first to challenge the rule in 1970, and the rule was stuck down as being in violation of section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust act. The NBA then established a financial hardship exception, but quickly abandoned it by 1972. From then until 1995, mostly only college underclassmen took advantage of the absence of an age limit: only 2 high school seniors declared themselves eligible for the draft from 1972 to 1994, when Kevin Garnett was drafted. For the next ten years many more high schoolers followed in Garnett’s footsteps, 38 seniors from 1996-2005 were declared eligible for the draft. In the 2000’s team owners and David Stern, the NBA commissioner, started to push for an age limit, citing too much undeveloped talent in the league as the reason. In July 2005, the NBA players association implemented the age limit through the collective bargaining agreement, similar to how the NFL imposed their age limit. The current rule, unchanged by the 2011 collective bargaining agreement, states that a player must be 19 and one year removed from high school to eligible for the draft. 1. A high school prep star can successfully challenge the
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