The NBA draft eligibility guidelines are as follows.
Age: In accordance with the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement, players must be at least 19 years old on the day of the draft.
The NBA draft eligibility requirement is based on a one-time rule stated in the collective bargaining agreement. Specifically, a player must have completed “at least one (1) NBA Season” following their high school graduation or, in the event that they did not graduate from high school, the graduation of the class from which they would have graduated if they had.
Players from other countries: As per the collective bargaining agreement, an international player is one who:
(i) has maintained a permanent residence outside of the United States for at least the three (3) years prior to the Draft, while participating in the game of basketball as an amateur or as a professional outside of the United States;
(ii) who has never previously enrolled in a college or university in the United States; and
(iii) who did not complete high school in the United States.”
Draft restrictions: A player who wants to play in the NBA is limited to two draft entries. In addition, a player cannot sign with the NBA without fulfilling the draft eligibility standards.
