{"id":575594,"date":"2026-02-01T18:43:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T18:43:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/575594\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T18:43:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T18:43:29","slug":"nba-free-agent-amari-bailey-pursuing-college-basketball-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/575594\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA free agent Amari Bailey pursuing college basketball return"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph sections-colleges \">Free agent G Amari Bailey is \u201cattempting to become the first basketball player to return to college after playing in NBA games.\u201d Bailey, 21, has \u201chired an agent and a lawyer to prepare to fight for NCAA eligibility with hopes to join a college team and play one more season.\u201d Bailey played one season at UCLA in 2022-23 before entering the 2023 NBA Draft, where he was selected by the Hornets in the second round. He played in 10 games during his rookie season on a two-way contract and spent two years in the G League before being cut over the summer. NCAA SVP\/External Affairs Tim Buckley responded, \u201cThe NCAA has not and will not grant eligibility to any players who have signed an NBA contract.\u201d Bailey \u201cplans to begin speaking with schools in the near future about next season.\u201d He said that he \u201cdoesn\u2019t have a specific team in mind.\u201d His new team would have to \u201cpetition the NCAA for a waiver to allow him to play.\u201d If the NCAA denies the waiver request, Bailey and his attorney \u201ccould file a lawsuit in state or federal court to challenge the decision\u201d (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mens-college-basketball\/story\/_\/id\/47780686\/amari-bailey-10-games-nba-seeks-college-eligibility\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mens-college-basketball\/story\/_\/id\/47780686\/amari-bailey-10-games-nba-seeks-college-eligibility\">ESPN.com, 1\/30<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph sections-colleges \">Here is a sampling of social media reaction: <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MattNorlander\/status\/2017376245344825700\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow\" title=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MattNorlander\/status\/2017376245344825700\">CBS Sports\u2019 Matt Norlander<\/a>: \u201cA draft deadline has existed for DECADES to vet and guard against these kinds of regrettable choices. Amari Bailey wasn\u2019t forced to leave UCLA after averaging 11.2 points. Decisions have consequences. Live with them instead of trying to litigate your way back to a lower level.\u201d<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/franfraschilla\/status\/2017401866087178608\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow\" title=\"https:\/\/x.com\/franfraschilla\/status\/2017401866087178608\">ESPN\u2019s Fran Fraschilla<\/a>: \u201cNo offense to Amari Bailey, but if you are a head coach and staff, you say \u201cNo, thank you.\u201d Don\u2019t waste your energy.&#8221;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/robholmesiv\/status\/2017452173198541181\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow\" title=\"https:\/\/x.com\/robholmesiv\/status\/2017452173198541181\">On3\u2019s Rob Holmes IV<\/a>: \u201cWhat is college basketball about to look like if the Amari Bailey situation ends up actually being legal?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Free agent G Amari Bailey is \u201cattempting to become the first basketball player to return to college after&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":575595,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7,217,10880,6,231,772,1544],"class_list":{"0":"post-575594","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-college-basketball","10":"tag-legal","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-ncaa","13":"tag-ncaa-basketball","14":"tag-ncaab"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115996852450958931","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}