I dont quite understand

[Soul_Patch]

My wife and i were talking about the draft last night, and we both dont quite understand why players can enter the draft while still contracted to teams in other parts of the world.

It seems to me that if you are trying to get drafted in the NBA, you should be available to play. I dont really get the concept of "rights to a player" or whatever the spurs seem to get involved in a lot.


Just curious if someone that understands this stuff more than me would care to explain.

[anakha]

http://www.nbpa.com/cba_articles/article-X.php


(b) A player shall be eligible for selection in the first NBA Draft with respect to which he has satisfied all applicable requirements of Section 1(b)(i) below and one of the requirements of Section 1(b)(ii) below:

...

(E) The player has signed a player contract with a “professional basketball team not in the NBA” (defined below) that is located anywhere in the world, and has rendered services under such contract prior to the Draft; or

...

(d) For purposes of this Article X, a “professional basketball team not in the NBA” means any team that pays money or compensation of any kind – in excess of a stipend for living expenses – to a basketball player for rendering services to such team.

Simply put, the scenario you laid out is exactly one of the explicit requirements for NBA draft eligibility.

[MagnusKrauss]

My wife and i were talking about the draft last night, and we both dont quite understand why players can enter the draft while still contracted to teams in other parts of the world.

It seems to me that if you are trying to get drafted in the NBA, you should be available to play. I dont really get the concept of "rights to a player" or whatever the spurs seem to get involved in a lot.


Just curious if someone that understands this stuff more than me would care to explain.

i for one, understand the issue here. why is it that if a player is contractually obligated to play for a non-NBA team, once he is drafted in the 1st round, he is eligible to receive guaranteed rookie-scale NBA money? i mean, if we're gonna be paying him, he'd have to play for us one day right? even if just for the summer league or the pre-season (hell even for austin).

damn you Tau! :bang