NBA Rumors: NBA Expected To Lower Draft Age to 18 In New CBA

The NBA and NBPA (National Basketball Players Association) are expected to come to an agreement on lowering the NBA Draft eligibility from 19 to 18 in the new collective bargaining agreement, according to The Athletic's Shams Charania.

This change in the CBA would allow players to come into the league straight out of high school, something that was normal between 1974 to 2005 including famously the likes of Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and others.

The NBA is looking to wipe the rule they created in 2005, which dictated that in order for a player to be draft eligible they must be 19 years old with at least one year outside of high school.

Charania also reports that the new CBA will likely include mental health measures that will allow players to recover from wounds on top of their physical ones, including psychological injuries.

The focus on mental health and stigma's surrounding it have been discussed extensively more in recent years which include NBA players themselves sharing their own personal battles with it. Most notably Kevin Love and Demar DeRozan, who rose to the center of raising awareness for mental health and the severe problems that sports athletes like them continue to face.

NBA's commissioner Adam Silver was previously hopeful to increase the age of draft eligibility to 20 but later changed his mind due to the NIL deals that were introduced in college sports recently. He believes the NBA could help their athletes off the court, especially starting from a young age.

League officials from both sides will continue to meet this week as they discuss details in the new CBA ahead of the Dec. 15 opt-out deadline.