Mark Cuban: NBA Prospects Better Off Playing In D-League Than College

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, unsurprisingly, has a strong opinion on the NCAA and men’s college basketball, and it actually makes some sense.

Cuban told ESPN that it would be better for NBA prospects to play in the NBA’s developmental league, rather than play one year of NCAA hoops before jumping ship to the big leagues.

“The NCAA rules are so hypocritical, there’s absolutely no reason for a kid to go [to college], because he’s not going to class [and] he’s actually not even able to take advantage of all the fun because the first semester he starts playing basketball,” Cuban said. “So if the goal is just to graduate to the NBA or be an NBA player, go to the D-League.”

Under the league’s current collective bargaining agreement, players have to be one year out of high school and at least 19 years old to play in the NBA, but the age minimum for the D-league is 18.

Cuban wants the NBA to take steps to make the D-league an attractive alternative to the one-and-done journey many NBA prospects embark on. Cuban envisions the NBA working with universities to provide straight-out-of-high school players an opportunity to go for a college education while also playing in the D-League. Guaranteeing a college tuition for players, whether or not they pan out in the league, would be an incentive.

“We can get rid of all the hypocrisy and improve the education,” Cuban said. “If the whole plan is just to go to college for one year maybe or just the first semester, that’s not a student-athlete. That’s ridiculous.

“You don’t have to pretend. We don’t have to pretend. A major college has to pretend that they’re treating them like a student-athlete, and it’s a big lie and we all know it’s a big lie.”

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