NBA Draft Definitely Needs To Learn From WNBA Draft
The NBA has chosen an unorthodox approach to NBA Draft eligibility and could learn a thing or two from its sibling league, the WNBA. The league is facing an unprecedented decline in viewer numbers, while the WNBA is exploding in popularity. The primary reason for both is the influx of talent and the impact that talent is having on their respective leagues. The NBA continues to lower the bar for incoming players, and the WNBA bar has never been higher. It's time for the men's league to stop being a boys league.
How The 1995 NBA Draft Changed The League
Moses Malone became the first basketball player to play in the NBA straight out of high school. This was in 1974 and it wouldn't happen again until 1995. Malone may have sprung a leak in the dam, but Kevin Garnett blew the dam to pieces. The Minnesota Timberwolves took Garnett with the fifth-overall pick in the 1995 Draft out of Farragut Academy in Chicago, and he made an immediate impact on the team. The following season, Kobe Bryant and Jermaine O'Neal jumped from high school into the first round of the NBA Draft.
36 players from 1997-2005 would be drafted out of high school, and the NBA put a stop to the madness, by implementing its one-and-done rule. Players were required to be one year removed from high school in order to join the league. Many players opted for a year in college basketball, while a handful chose to play their one season after high school overseas, or in a domestic minor league. It was clear that players jumping from high school were not ready to contribute at a pro level, but how much difference does a year make?
WNBA Draft Eligibility
The WNBA also has a draft, and its own rules governing eligibility. A female basketball player who wants to turn pro, can not be drafted until they are 22 years old. They chose an age, rather than a number of years, but they are essentially requiring female basketball players to graduate college before turning pro. Like the NBA, there is no rule stating what female basketball players are able to do before being drafted. In theory, a highly touted high school player could play in Italy or Spain until they turn 22, and then declare for the draft. College is not necessary.
NBA Or WNBA: Who Is Right, Who Is Wrong
Juju Watkins is arguably the best player in all of college basketball, but she can't declare for another two years. Meanwhile, on the men's side of the ball, Cooper Flagg is poised to be the top pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, after just one year of college basketball. Who has the correct model? All things being equal, should women be allowed to declare early, or should men be forced to sit out longer?
On one side of the coin is the argument that an 18-year-old can go straight from high school to McDonalds and start making a living, so why not become a professional athlete after high school? The other side of that coin deals with ability and maturity. It doesn't matter whether you are a man or woman, you can not go from high school to being a brain surgeon. Sports is not life and death like medicine, at least not basketball, but there is a level of training and maturity required to make an impact.
All a person would have to do to understand which method is more effective, is look at the stats from the top 10 picks in the 2024 WNBA and 2024 NBA Drafts and compare the impact of the players selected. The top 10 picks in the WNBA Draft averaged 10.6 points per game on 43.4% shooting (33% from three) and added 5.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game. The league averages for FG% and 3pt% were 43.8 and 33.8 respectively. This means that the WNBA rookie's efficiency was in line with the league average.
The top 10 picks in the 2024 NBA Draft are currently averaging 7.3 points per game on 41.2% shooting (27.8% from three), to go with 3.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists. Male rookie's field goal percentage is 12% below the league average (46.3) and their three-point percentage is 29% below the league average (35.9). It's impossible to argue that women aren't more ready in the WNBA than men are in the NBA. Numbers don't lie.
The 2025 draft is expected to see the first 17 picks be either current college freshmen or international teens. Like their predecessors, they will struggle to get acclimated to a pro-environment. The WNBA is doing a lot of things better than their male counterparts, and it's time for the men to admit, "The women do it better than us." Get rid of the one-and-done rule, and change the minimum age requirement for incoming NBA players to be at least 21. If the league wants the ratings to go up, they need to stop drafting little boys.