NBA commissioner Adam Silver says if he could immediately change something about the NBA, he would create a harder salary cap and increase the league’s minimum age to 20.
In an interview with GQ magazine, Silver noted that exorbitant spending by some teams is ‘unhealthy’ for the NBA at large, and he would rather see teams competing on an even playing field, in terms of spending ability.
On the minimum age issues, the told the magazine that setting the minimum age of 20 would lead to better quality of play, despite the NBPA’s opposition.
“[The union’s] principal argument is that it’s a restriction on players. And as a philosophical argument, I totally understand that. Of course it’s a restriction, in the same way a draft is a restriction. But our view is that it would make for a better league. You’d have more skilled players, more mature players. The draft would be better. It would be better for basketball in general. Strong college basketball is great for the NBA. And we know those players are eventually going to come to the NBA, whether they are 19 or 20 or 21.” he said to GQ.
The NBA initially raised the minimum age requirement from 18 to 19 in 2005, also mandating that players be at least a year removed from high school.
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