The National Basketball Players Association sent a signed letter to the NCAA on behalf of certified NBA agents, rejecting a proposal of the certification process to work with undergraduate men’s basketball players before the NBA draft.
The NCAA and NBPA were communicating in the past few weeks about cooperation, but according to ESPN, this deal fell through. Michele Roberts, the NBPA executive director, declined to comment this news.
The NBPA sent a letter on behalf of certified player agents to the NCAA that refuses to submit to a proposed certification process to work with undergraduate players testing the NBA Draft.https://t.co/wc8adUq6wB
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 14, 2019
ESPN obtained the agents’ letter to the NCAA, in which they are charging the NCAA with trying to develop a mechanism to “garner access to personal and private information of certified agents in what amounts to subpoena power to embark on investigations that are wholly unrelated to protecting the interests of men’s basketball student-athletes in deciding whether to remain in school or to enter the NBA Draft.”
“While we refuse to subject ourselves to these regulations, our biggest concern is that the process itself undermines the ability of student-athletes to truly receive the most competent representation when they are testing the waters. By continuing to legislate in a manner that ignores the realities of the world that student-athletes with professional prospects live in, the NCAA is only entrenching an ecosystem that cultivates and fosters an atmosphere of distrust among the student-athletes whom the NCAA is supposed to protect, thus pushing these kids out of school far before they are ready.”
“Competent, established, and experienced agents have no incentive to subject themselves to this legislation, and its overly burdensome procedures and oversight. As such, men’s basketball student-athletes who are testing the NBA Draft waters will be forced to listen to people who do not have the experience, knowledge, and network to truly help them make the best decisions. While we do not want to see this happen, it is inevitable under the proposed process.”
H/T: ESPN
