The NBA high school draftees are players who have been drafted to the National Basketball Association (NBA) straight out of high school without playing basketball at the collegiate level. The process of jumping directly from high school to the professional level is also known as going prep-to-pro. Since 2006, the practice of drafting high school players has been prohibited by the new collective bargaining agreement, which requires that players who entered the draft be 19 years of age and at least one year removed from high school.

The NBA has long had a preference for players who played basketball at the collegiate level; the vast majority of players to play in the NBA have had college experience. However, there have been numerous notable players who attended high school in the United States and then jumped directly to the NBA without playing college basketball.

History

Early years

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 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. 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. Thus, he spent a year playing in a minor basketball league before he was drafted again in the 1963 Draft by the Pistons. He finally entered the league in the 1963–64 season and played four seasons in the NBA and American Basketball Association (ABA).

In 1971, the U.S. Supreme Court decision Haywood v. National Basketball Association ruled, 7–2 against the National Basketball Association’s requirement that a player must complete four years of college eligibility 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.

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. 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.

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. They had applied and gave evidence of financial hardship to the league, which granted them the right to start earning their living by starting their professional careers earlier. 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 only averaged 6 points per game. Both players had not 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.

After Dawkins and Willoughby, no high schoolers were drafted for twenty years, though several players entered the league without playing college basketball. One notable 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. He played 14 seasons in the NBA and was selected to 6 All-Star Games and 3 All-NBA Teams.

1995–2005

's high-profile migration from high school to the NBA in 1995 prompted many high schoolers to follow his footstep.]] 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, 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 and Shaun Livingston (2004); Andrew Bynum and Monta Ellis (2005).

2005–present

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 in favor of not having any age limit. 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. 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).

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. 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.

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." 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 C.E.O. of a company try to protect themselves by putting rules like that." Florida head coach Billy Donovan believed that the rule made high schoolers feel like they were being punished.

List

There have been 42 high school draftees in the NBA Draft. Three draftees were selected first overall; Kwame Brown in 2001 NBA Draft, LeBron James in 2003 and Dwight Howard in 2004 NBA Draft. Two draftees went on to win the Rookie of the Year Award in their first season; LeBron James and 2002 draftee Amar'e Stoudemire. Three draftees went on to win the Most Valuable Player Award; Kevin Garnett in , Kobe Bryant in and LeBron James in and . Eight draftees have been selected to the All-Star Game while seven draftees have been selected to the All-NBA Team. width="50" Guard

width="50"	Pos.	G||	F	C
Basketball position	Position	|	Forward	Center

Draft	Round	Pick	Player	Pos.	Nationality	Draft team	High school (city)	Ref.
align=center				C		Detroit Pistons	Martin Luther King High School (Detroit, Michigan)
align=center				C		[[Philadelphia 76ers	Maynard Evans High School (Orlando, Florida)
align=center				F/C		Atlanta Hawks	Dwight Morrow High School (Englewood, New Jersey)
align=center				F		Minnesota Timberwolves
align=center				G			Lower Merion High School (Ardmore, Pennsylvania)
align=center				F/C		Portland Trail Blazers	Eau Claire High School (Columbia, South Carolina)
align=center				F		Toronto Raptors	Mount Zion Christian Academy (Durham, North Carolina)
align=center				F		Indiana Pacers
align=center				F		Seattle SuperSonics
align=center				F		Detroit Pistons	Hargrave Military Academy (Chatham, Virginia)
align=center				F		Toronto Raptors	Picayune Memorial High School (Picayune, Mississippi)
align=center				C		Dallas Mavericks	King College Prep High School
align=center				F		[[Los Angeles Clippers
align=center				G		Utah Jazz	Washington Union High School (Fresno, California)
align=center				F		Washington Wizards	Glynn Academy (Brunswick, Georgia)
align=center				C		Los Angeles Clippers	Dominguez High School (Compton, California)
align=center				C		Chicago Bulls	Thornwood High School (South Holland, Illinois)
align=center				C		Cleveland Cavaliers
align=center				F		Denver Nuggets	St. Jude High School (Montgomery, Alabama)
align=center				F/C		Phoenix Suns
align=center				F		Cleveland Cavaliers	St. Vincent – St. Mary High School (Akron, Ohio)
align=center				F		Portland Trail Blazers
align=center				F		Minnesota Timberwolves
align=center				C		Memphis Grizzlies	Clifton J. Ozen High School (Beaumont, Texas)
align=center				C		New Orleans Hornets	Central Park Christian High School (Birmingham, Alabama)
align=center				F/C		Orlando Magic
align=center				G		Los Angeles Clippers
align=center				C		Seattle SuperSonics	Bakersfield High School (Bakersfield, California)
align=center				G		Portland Trail Blazers	Abraham Lincoln High School (Brooklyn, New York)
align=center				F		[[Boston Celtics	Prentiss High School (Prentiss, Mississippi)
align=center				F		Atlanta Hawks
align=center				G		New Orleans Hornets	Saint Benedict's Preparatory School (Newark, New Jersey)
align=center				G/F		Miami Heat	South Kent School
align=center				G/F		[[Portland Trail Blazers
align=center				C		Los Angeles Lakers
align=center				F		Boston Celtics	Leader's Academy High School for Business and Academic Success
align=center				G		[[Utah Jazz	Skyline High School (Dallas, Texas)
align=center				F		[[Portland Trail Blazers
align=center				G		Golden State Warriors
align=center				G		Philadelphia 76ers	South Gwinnett High School (Snellville, Georgia)
align=center				F		Washington Wizards	South Kent School
align=center				F		[[Detroit Pistons	Westchester High School (Los Angeles)

}}

Other players

The following players also played in the NBA without playing [[college basketball, however these players did not get drafted or join the NBA directly after their high school graduation.

Year	Debut	Player	Pos.	Nationality	High school (city)	Notes	Ref.
			G				*Played in the American Basketball League (1925–1955)	*The first player to play in the BAA/NBA without any college experience	*Made his BAA debut at the age of 27
			F/C				*The second player to play in the BAA/NBA without any college experience	*Made his BAA debut at the age of 21
			F/C				*Made his BAA debut at the age of 18
			F/C				Banned permanently by the NBA due to a point shaving scandal in college, but was later reinstated in 1969	*Attended University of Iowa	*Played in the American Basketball League (1961–1963)
			F/C				*Drafted by the [[Utah Stars in the 1974 ABA Draft	American Basketball Association>ABA before the ABA–NBA merger
			F/C				*Attended University of Kentucky and Trinity Valley Community College	*Drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics in the 1989 NBA Draft (1st round, 17th pick)
			G		Andrew Jackson High School (Queens, New York)		*Attended [[Mt. San Antonio College	List of developmental and minor sports leagues>minor basketball league before making his NBA debut
			C		King College Prep High School		*Attended [[University of Pittsburgh	*Declared for the 1994 NBA Draft but went undrafted
			F				*Attended Butler Community College	*Drafted by the Phoenix Suns in the 1997 NBA Draft (2nd round, 43rd pick)
			F/C				*Declared for the 2004 NBA Draft but went undrafted	Continental Basketball Association>CBA before making his NBA debut
			G				Lega Basket Serie A>Italian league in the 2008–2009 season	*Drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2009 NBA Draft (1st round, 10th pick)

Controversy

Despite the success of some high school players drafted, the entry of high school players into the NBA remains controversial. Critics say that high school players are not mentally and physically mature or prepared enough to handle the pressure of professional play. Thus, they are more likely to fail. Instead, they believe that colleges are useful at filtering out players who can dominate against weak competition in high school, but cannot succeed at a higher level of play. They also think that the influx of high schoolers bypassing colleges in favor of the NBA has caused collegiate game to deteriorate. Universities are wary of spending time recruiting as many players are motivated financially to turn pro fresh out of high school.

On the other hand, proponents argue that there is no valid reason to exclude high school players. Michael McCann, writer of law article "Illegal Defense: The Irrational Economics of Banning High School Players from the NBA Draft," contends that players drafted straight out of high school can do as well as any other players in the NBA. The article finds that "on average, these [high school] players perform better in every major statistical category than does the average NBA player". Others instead believe that the problem was due to the lack of established farm system in basketball until recently. In other major sport, such as baseball and hockey, it is common for young players to develop in their minor league systems.

See also

Haywood v. National Basketball Association

Notes

Each year is linked to an article about that particular NBA Draft. Year denotes the year when the player graduated from high school. Debut denotes the year when the player made his NBA debut. Each year is linked to an article about that particular NBA season. Information not available

References

External links

NBA.com

NBA.com: NBA Draft History

* Category:National Basketball Association Draft Category:National Basketball Association lists