Emmanuel Mudiay has agreed upon a $1.2 million deal with Guangdong of the China Basketball Association. Mudiay committed to SMU, but concerns of his eligibilty became an issue this month. Mudiay is expected to be a top lottery pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. Sportando first reported news of the agreement. Read more https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/status/491590238968758272
I can see the NBA implementing some kind of way to discourage this; perhaps by requiring that players spend more than one year as a pro abroad to try and get them to go to college instead.
Why would the nba want to? He'll be seen just as much as Dario saric at 19, and more than milicic/podkolzine/skita were. Jeremy Tyler was scouted just fine. NBA didn't make rules against that... I'm fine with kids taking legal money to play professionally if someone wants to pay them. It's the kids getting cash for AAU or college that bothers me.
Stern's reasoning for wanting the eligibility age raised to 20 was to keep pro scouts and GM's out of high school gyms. Assuming Silver is of a similar opinion, I doubt he wants scouts and GM's of international pro teams there, either. I don't know what the relationship is like between the NBA and the NCAA at the moment but I can imagine the NCAA being less than thrilled with top high school players opting to play in China or Europe for money rather than going to college. In terms of the NBA product, I don't know if the coaching and training these young players might get overseas would be up to the NCAA D1 standard, but that's a trickier argument. The NBA also has programs to try and help young players manage their money. Hopefully these international outfits provide something similar.
