NBA high school draftees

In the early years of the NBA draft, a player had to finish his four-year college eligibility to be eligible for selection. Reggie Harding, who had graduated from high school but did not enroll in a college, became the first player drafted out of high school when the Detroit Pistons selected him in the fourth round of the 1962 draft.[3] However, the NBA rules at that time prohibited a high school player to play in the league until one year after his high school class graduated.[4][5] Thus, he spent a year playing in a minor basketball league before he was drafted again in the 1963 draft by the Pistons.[6] He finally entered the league in the 1963–64 season and played four seasons in the NBA and American Basketball Association (ABA).[7]

In 1971, the U.S. Supreme Court decision Haywood v. National Basketball Association ruled 7–2 against the NBA's requirement that a player must wait four years after high school graduation (which in most cases was spent playing in college) before turning professional. This ruling allowed players to enter the NBA Draft without four years of college, provided they could give evidence of hardship to the NBA office.[8]

In 1974, the NBA's rival, the ABA, drafted high school star Moses Malone. He was immediately signed by the Utah Stars and became the first player to go directly from high school basketball to a professional league.[9] He became an instant success, averaging 18 points and 14 rebounds per game in his rookie season. He played in the ABA until the ABA–NBA merger in 1976. He then played 19 successful seasons with 7 NBA teams. He won the NBA championship, along with the Finals Most Valuable Player Award, with the Philadelphia 76ers in 1983. His other achievements include 3 Most Valuable Player Awards, 12 consecutive All-Star Game selections, 8 All-NBA Team selections and 6 rebounding titles. He has been inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and was also named in the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History list announced at the league's 50th anniversary in 1996.[10]

A year later, two high school players, Darryl Dawkins and Bill Willoughby, applied for hardship and were declared eligible to be selected in the 1975 draft.[11] They had applied and gave evidence of financial hardship to the league, which granted them the right to start earning a living by starting their professional careers earlier.[8] Dawkins was selected 5th by the Philadelphia 76ers while Willoughby was selected 19th by the Atlanta Hawks. Dawkins played 14 seasons and averaged 12 points and 6 rebounds per game. Willoughby played 8 seasons with 6 different teams and averaged only 6 points per game. Neither player reached the level of success that was expected. It is argued that they could have been better players if they had college basketball experience before entering the NBA.[12][13][14]

After Dawkins and Willoughby, no high schoolers were drafted for 14 years, though several players entered the league without playing college basketball. One player, Shawn Kemp, enrolled in college but never played any games due to personal problems. In 1989, a year after his high school graduation, he was drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics.[15] He played 14 seasons in the NBA and was selected to 6 All-Star Games and 3 All-NBA Teams.[16]

Kevin Garnett's high-profile migration from high school to the NBA in 1995 prompted many high schoolers to follow in his footsteps

In 1995, Kevin Garnett, USA Today's high school basketball player of the year, announced his intentions to forgo college, and declared himself eligible for the 1995 NBA draft. The move was highly controversial; the conventional wisdom at the time was that high-schoolers were neither emotionally nor physically mature enough for the rigors of the NBA game. On draft day, Garnett was selected with the #5 pick in the first round by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Garnett led the Timberwolves to eight consecutive playoff berths and was a multiple All-Star during his time with the team. In 2004, the Wolves advanced to the Western Conference Finals before losing to the Lakers; Garnett was named Most Valuable Player that year. After a trade in the 2007 offseason to the Boston Celtics, he was a core player in the Celtics' first NBA title in over 20 years.

In 1996, two notable players made the jump from high school to the NBA. The first was Kobe Bryant, selected by the Charlotte Hornets with the 13th pick of the NBA draft, but traded almost immediately to the Los Angeles Lakers. The second was Jermaine O'Neal, selected by the Trail Blazers with the 17th pick. O'Neal was traded in 2000 to the Indiana Pacers (and later to the Miami Heat). In 1997, another All-Star caliber player, Tracy McGrady, was selected by the Toronto Raptors. In 1998, three high-schoolers were drafted with Al Harrington and Rashard Lewis experiencing the most success. Darius Miles became the highest high school player selected with the third pick in the 2000 NBA Draft, until the following year.

In 2001, Kwame Brown (selected by the Washington Wizards) became the first high-schooler to be selected with the number one pick in the draft; since then, LeBron James (2003) and Dwight Howard (2004) have also been selected with the first pick. Other notable high-schoolers include Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry (2001); Amar'e Stoudemire (2002); Josh Smith, Sebastian Telfair, J. R. Smith, and Shaun Livingston (2004); Andrew Bynum and Monta Ellis (2005).

Many prep-to-pro players like Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Jermaine O'Neal, LeBron James, and Tracy Mcgrady went on to become star players in the NBA. Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James have all won the league's MVP Award; as well as holding at least one NBA title under their belt, and are widely regarded as future Hall-of-Famers. Dwight Howard, Jermaine O'Neal and Amar'e Stoudemire also became perennial All-Stars in their prime. However, not all high-schoolers were successful. Kwame Brown and Eddy Curry are widely regarded as draft busts, while Jonathan Bender and Darius Miles had their careers cut short by injury. Korleone Young (drafted in 1998) and Leon Smith (drafted in 1999) only played a handful of games in the NBA, while Lenny Cooke and DeAngelo Collins, both of whom declared for the 2002 Draft, went undrafted and never played in the NBA.

Brandon Jennings spent a year playing in Italy before entering the NBA

Beginning 2005, both the NBA and the players' union started to discuss the possibility of implementing a new age limit. The league lobbied for an age minimum of 20 while the union was against an age limit.[17] Finally in July 2005, both sides compromised in the new collective bargaining agreement, requiring that the minimum age for entry into the NBA be 19 and that entrants be at least one year removed from high school.[18] For the first time, teams are also allowed to send players, with two years of NBA experience or less, to the NBA Development League (NBA D-League).[17]

The terms of the new agreement ended the practice of drafting high school players, starting in the 2006 Draft. A high school player must wait at least a year to be eligible for selection. However, they are not required to spend that year in college. In 2008, high school star Brandon Jennings decided to skip college and play professional basketball in Italy. After a year, he was eligible for the 2009 draft and was selected 10th by the Milwaukee Bucks.[19] In the 2010 draft, Latavious Williams, who did not qualify academically to go to college, spent a year playing in the NBA D-League before he was drafted in the second round.[20] Emmanuel Mudiay decided to take a route similar to that of Jennings by skipping college to play professionally in China in 2014 before being selected 7th by the Denver Nuggets a year later. Terrance Ferguson also opted out of college for professional play, this time in Australia in 2016 before being selected a year later by the Oklahoma City Thunder as the 21st pick of the 2017 draft.

While the rules discouraged high school players from entering, starting in the early 2010s, more high schoolers opted to declare entry for the draft with the intent of being selected early. In the 2015 draft, Indian-born Satnam Singh Bhamara, who did not qualify academically to go to college, went straight to the NBA draft as a post-graduate after being at IMG Academy for five years. He would be taken by the Dallas Mavericks with the 52nd pick in the draft, thus becoming the first high school student to be drafted since the rule changes. In the 2016 draft, one of the Top–10 players that was declared eligible for NCAA play in 2016, Thon Maker, decided to enter the draft instead as a post-graduate from Orangeville Prep in Orangeville, Ontario, Canada due to him originally declaring himself as eligible for college in 2015. Thon also marked the first player to be drafted directly from a Canadian high school, as well as the second player to enter as a post-graduate. He was the first high schooler to be drafted in the first round since 2005, being drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks with the tenth pick, becoming the first high school lottery pick since 2005. In the 2018 draft, Anfernee Simons from the IMG Academy was also drafted in the NBA with the 24th, with Simons being a postgraduate there like Bhamara three years prior. In addition, Mitchell Robinson took a year off after high school due to exiting Western Kentucky University early without playing there, which left him drafted as the 36th pick. Most recently, in 2019, both Jalen Lecque and Darius Bazley declared entry and left their names in the draft, with Bazley entering without any collegiate or professional play after graduating from high school the previous year. Darius Bazley was selected as the 23rd pick of that year's draft by the Oklahoma City Thunder, while Jalen Lecque went undrafted, but played for the Phoenix Suns during the 2019–20 NBA season.

Some players support the new age limit. Gerald Green called it "a smart move", saying that "[not everybody is] LeBron James ... He came in ready and he dominated the league. There's a lot of players that have to get developed. Me, I've got to get developed. But I guess that age limit, that one year of college experience, can get you more developed and I think that's pretty good."[17] Others, however, strongly criticize the rule. Andrew Bynum said "That's something I'll never understand. Because in no other business can the owner, or a stock trader, or a CEO of a company try to protect themselves by putting rules like that."[21] Former Florida Gators and current Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Billy Donovan believed that the rule made high schoolers feel like they were being punished.[22]

In December 2009, a recent report suggested that the NBA was looking to reverse their original ruling from 2005 to go back to having the age limit be 18 years old. If implemented, this would allow for players to enter the NBA directly from high school without any stipulations whatsoever.