Five-star high school basketball player and Florida State signee Jonathan Isaac has reaffirmed his commitment to the Seminoles. In an announcement on Twitter, Isaac, who was reported to have been exploring the possibility of declaring for the 2016 NBA Draft, stated his decision was final.
#NoleNation 🍢😈🦁 pic.twitter.com/pv93sc2DWq
— Jonathan Isaac (@jisaac_01) February 9, 2016
Isaac, who is set to graduate from IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., this spring, would seemingly have been ineligible for the 2016 NBA Draft under agreed upon player eligibility restrictions between the NBA and NBPA.
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However, Isaac may have fallen into a loophole which would allow a class of high school basketball players an opportunity to become draft eligible directly from high school.
NBA Draft player eligibility restrictions and their application to Isaac
Under Article X Section 1 of the current collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and the NBPA, a player is precluded from entering the NBA Draft unless two conditions are met. First, the player must be at least 19 years old during the calendar year in which the draft is held. Next, at least one NBA season must have elapsed since the player's graduation from high school. If the player did not graduate from high school, the graduation of the class with which the player would have graduated had he graduated from high school would be applicable.
Isaac, who turns 19 in October, and any other high school basketball player who turns 19 in the 2016 calendar year would meet this requirement. The second requirement, however, is subject to debate.
Isaac entered high school during the fall 2011 semester, which would determine his initial graduating class to be at the conclusion of the 2014-15 academic year. The issue for Isaac, however, is he did not complete his degree with his initial graduating class. A textual reading of the CBA would indicate Isaac's one year clock for NBA Draft eligibility has not yet begun because Isaac has not yet graduated. As a result, Isaac would not be eligible until the 2017 NBA Draft, which will occur one year after his expected graduation from IMG.
Challenging NBA Draft player eligibility restrictions
Isaac's purported interest in the 2016 NBA Draft was based on two important considerations. First, the 2016 NBA Draft has been considered to be a weak draft when compared to other recent drafts with the exception of the expected number one pick LSU's Ben Simmons. The lack of top talent available would have enhanced Isaac's potential draft status should he have been declared eligible.
Additionally, the NCAA recently passed Proposal No. 2015-32, which provides underclassmen who declare for the NBA draft the ability to attend the NBA's pre-draft combine in Chicago and then make a decision within ten days of the event to decide whether they wanted to stay in the draft or return to the college ranks. The previous legislation prevented players from retaining their eligibility once they declared. This change in legislation would have allowed Isaac to explore his potential draft status for the 2016 NBA Draft without jeopardizing his ability to compete for Florida State next year.
Although Isaac has ultimately decided to not enter the 2016 NBA Draft, his interest in doing so opens up some unique questions on how he or another similarly situated player could circumvent the intent of the NBA's early entry restrictions. For example, should Isaac have declared for the 2016 NBA Draft his first argument would have focused on classifying his one year clock from what would have been his graduation class should he have completed his high school requirements in four years. Isaac would have had to convince that he either directly meets the rule because he is one year removed or that he meets the intent of the rule because his additional year at IMG has allowed him the same maturation and development that would have occurred had he completed high school in 2015.
The NBA, which has recently discussed increasing the age limit to 20 years old and two years removed from high school, most likely will not agree with this interpretation. The NBA would differentiate an additional year in the prep ranks from competing at the college level, in the D-League or abroad. Additionally, the NBA would most likely not want to open up additional opportunities for high school players to utilize a post-graduate year to circumvent the intent of the restriction.
Should the NBA have rejected Isaac's first argument, he may have had one additional option. Under a textual reading of the rule, if Isaac were to have decided he was ready to pursue his professional options, he could have dropped out of IMG and declared for the draft. The language of the rule states if the player did not graduate from high school, the graduation of the class with which the player would have graduated had he graduated from high school would be applicable. If Isaac were to leave IMG he may have a better opportunity to argue the year he should have graduated was 2015 since the expectation of a student's time in high school is four years. This would seemingly allow him to be measured from his expected date of graduation rather than when he actually graduated.
This decision, however, would not be without risk. A player wishing to utilize the second option would be prevented from immediately meeting NCAA initial eligiblity requirements. If he were to ultimately found to be ineligible for the 2016 NBA Draft, he would have to explore opportunities in the D-League or abroad.
Legally challenging NBA Draft restrictions is not a viable option
In the 1971 decision in Denver Rockets v. All-Pro Management, basketball player Spencer Haywood successfully challenged the NBA’s age restrictions for entry into the league, which had a four year restriction measured from the player's high school class graduation. Haywood, who played one year at a junior college and an additional year in college, signed an ABA contract for one season and then signed an NBA contract the following year. The NBA's then-commissioner Walter Kennedy declared the contract void since Haywood would have only been three years out of college.
Haywood brought suit and argued the NBA rule constituted an illegal group boycott under Section 1 of the Sherman Act. The case eventually reached the Supreme Court which agreed with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California's analysis, which effectively allowed players to enter the NBA whenever they desired.
However, while this decision would be applicable, courts have shown a preference for collective bargaining over antitrust laws. Under what is known as the nonstatutory labor exemption, courts will allow collective bargaining agreements between a union and management to be protected from antitrust law if they are a product of a good faith negotiation. Here, because the current age restriction was agreed upon by the NBA and NBPA the agreement cannot be attacked as anticompetitive.
Justin P. Sievert, Esq. is the founder/principal of Sievert Collegiate Consulting, a professor of sports law at the University of Tennessee, and is a contributing writer on sports law and sports business issues for Sporting News. He is an attorney licensed to practice in Tennessee, North Carolina and Florida and has focused his practice on higher education and sports law. Justin has a Bachelors of Arts (B.A.) from Union College (NY), a Master's Degree in Education (M.ED) from St. Lawrence University and a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from the University of Miami (FL).