Pacers' O'Neal says NBA draft
age limit smacks of racism
'You don’t hear about it in baseball
or hockey,' says injured forward
 Doug Pensinger / Getty Images file Jermaine O'Neal says that an age limit for entering the NBA draft would be unconstitutional. |
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Indiana Pacers forward Jermaine O'Neal says he thinks racism might be one of the reasons the NBA is pushing for an age limit for rookies in the next collective bargaining agreement.
“In the last two or three years, the rookie of the year has a been a high school player. There were seven high school players in the All-Star game, so why we even talking an age limit?” O’Neal said on Monday. “As a black guy, you kind of think that’s the reason why it’s coming up. You don’t hear about it in baseball or hockey."
High school players LeBron James and Amare Stoudemire have won the last two rookie of the year awards.
Players currently must be 18 to be drafted, but NBA commissioner David Stern is seeking to raise that limit to 20, or two years out of high school.
The Sporting News reported that the proposed plan would still allow the younger players to enter the draft and earn full rookie-scale salaries, but they would be required to play in the NBDL — the NBA's equivilant of baseball's minor leagues — until they are 20.
"To say you have to be 20, 21 to get in the league, it’s unconstitutional," O'Neal said. "If I can go to the U.S. army and fight the war at 18 why can’t you play basketball for 48 minutes?”
The Pacers beat the Raptors 94-90 on Monday, although O'Neal, a three-time All-Star, is on the disabled list.
According to The Sporting News, O'Neal's opinion is in the minority among NBA players.
"Most players," one prominent agent told The Sporting News, "are not going to be teenagers again."
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