Louisville coach Rick Pitino remembers the days of high school basketball players skipping college to go straight to the NBA — and he predicts that those days will soon return.
In an interview with Marty Smith of ESPN, Pitino said that he expects the NBA to lower its age minimum — currently at 19 — to once again allow high school stars to go directly into the NBA draft.
“When I was at Kentucky I had seven high school basketball players told me they were coming, and instead they went to the pros out of high school,” Pitino said. “And by the way, I think that rule’s going to change back to that. I think high school players are going to be able to go pro again. I think the commissioner’s probably going to do it within two years.”
Pitino didn’t seem to have any evidence to back this up, just a feeling. He is likely right that a change is coming as far as the age limit goes, but if it’s up to Adam Silver, that threshold will go up, not down.
