7-foot center James Nnaji has committed to Baylor and will play the second half of the season with the Bears, a source told On3. He’s been granted four years of eligibility by the NCAA.
The 21-year-old Nigerian big man was selected 31st overall in the 2023 NBA Draft by the Detroit Pistons, but his rights were moved to Charlotte. Despite being drafted, he never signed a standard NBA contract. In 2024, his rights were moved once again, this time to the New York Knicks, as part of the three-team Karl-Anthony Towns
Source: https://www.on3.com/news/7-foot-center-and-former-nba-draft-pick-james-nnaji-commits-to-baylor/
23 comments
Wait, you can do that?
Why didn’t he sign a contract?
Wish him all the best I guess
The ncaa is dead
Jimmy Carr coaches at Baylor? Man he really does everything.
Dude is grinding backwards. First NBA player to make college basketball his next step
Wait that’s allowed?
Bogo get your ass to Madison. You’re starting vs Milwaukee next Tuesday.
This is potentially huge. If a guy who got drafted but hasn’t played in the NBA yet can play in college, this opens up the floodgates to potentially being able to stash your drafted players in college until they’re ready.
This is already the way it is in college hockey. As long as guys haven’t signed an NHL contract yet, they can continue playing in college until they want to go to the league. The team who drafted them retains their rights the whole time they stay in college similar to guys who are stashed internationally.
Lebron still has 4 years of eligibility. He never went to college
What is the point of any of this anymore?
Most kids go to college to get drafted. James got drafted so he could finally afford that Baylor meal plan.
bruhhhh
Doesn’t this kind of thing happen in baseball all the time ?
I feel like the real question is how does a 31st pick not even SIGN for the team ? What’s the point of essentially wasting that pick on him then ? I’m so confused how a team would operate like that
Is he related to Zeke Nnaji of Nuggets by any chance?
So this means that teams can prematurely draft draft-eligible international players and send/stash them to/at a US college (potentially of their choosing if they’re well connected) for 1-4 years and treat college like a developmental program.
Then, they would retain their draft rights indefinitely, i.e., they can’t be drafted again even if they vastly improve their standing. (Unless there’s some clause like the MLB where players can decline to sign and declare for the next draft instead.)
Is there some mechanism by which a team is encouraged or forced to sign this player to a contract if they’re plenty good to see minutes in the NBA? Otherwise, we might see something like service time manipulation in the MLB.
do people keep forgetting Larry Bird literally got drafted 6th overall in 1978 and then went back to college in the fall to take indiana state to the championship? this is nothing new
Infinite Draft glitch
Welcome to the NCAA, where everything is made up and the points don’t matter!
He’s an international player and never lived in America/Canada or played G league before.
Personally see no problem with this. He is a 21 year old who has played 0 seconds of Professional basketball in a regular season game in North America. Hockey and MLB have guys drafted at 18 who never play in the league and go to NCAA.
Lol NCAA is literally a pro league now. Why even bother to hide behind the veil of amateurism and make 600 eligibility rules with 5000 loopholes? Just declare it free for all at this point.
I remember this guy. He used to play for Barcelona basquet. He was racially abused by Real Madrid supporters. Florentino Perez famously said fuck all but he wanted to change the refereeing structure in order to eradicate racism after Vinicius Jr was racially abused at Valencia.
Would have made sense if he automatically became draft eligible based on age, but apparently he’s not old enough for that and declared for the 2023 draft.
What is the rationale for restoring eligibility after declaring for the draft?