Wheeler is a 6'7" PF with no composite ranking on 247, a 2 star on Verbal Commits, offers from Seton Hall, Providence, and St. John's at the moment. Evidently, he has decided to stop playing learning and start getting paid. I can understand where we have seen some guys wanting to skip college ball and go overseas to start making a paycheck....but to do so before you even get your high school diploma seems ludicrous to me.
If guys in this category start jumping over seas to get paid, even before they finish high school, how long before it starts to become a more popular trend for the big guys, top recruits, to go sign a couple year deal in Europe, then head back over for the NBA? Think it will get to the point where it has a noticeable effect on NCAA 'hoops quality?
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The article says he is 17. For the legal experts around here, that means his parents had to sign off on this as he can't legally sign a contract as a minor, correct?
Probably. Might depend on Italian law so who knows.
You could ask Amanda Knox
But you probably shouldn't
In theory, any two contracting parties can select the law they want to use. I'm guessing the law chosen is whatever is typical for that basketball team, probably Italian law. But Idk, it may be popular in Europe to select a particular country for various international contracts.
I dont think we'll see a quality difference any more so than when high schoolers could go straight to the NBA. The one and done teams haven't taken over the final fours so quality basketball still exists without the top players.
Also do a lot of 17 year olds want to go to a country where they dont speak the language?
I would worry more of the combined efforts of the G League, going foreign, and that new balance deal that the one guy signed. However, lots of people are worried about rocking the boat so college is the easiest way.
In 2015, Borussia Dortmund (German Soccer Team) signed 16-year-old Christian Pulisic (USA soccer). It's pretty common for young athletes in Europe (especially in soccer) to go to different countries for better opportunities. If you're going to be paid, I don't think the language barrier matters.
There are tons of examples of American kids going overseas to play soccer, but I think the key differentiator here is that these kids' goal is to play top flight soccer in Europe, whereas the NBA is the penultimate goal for basketball players of the same age. Not that I necessarily agree or disagree with the initial post, just think that this is pretty important qualifier.
Penultimate... so there's one more goal beyond the NBA?
(Sorry, had to)
Didn't Phillip Wheeler have dreads and play LB in Tenuta's defense at GT in the mid 2000's?
This is the Wheeler you're thinking of I think.
There is a PF on the 76ers who did the same thing. But I think Jeremy Tyler was considered to be the #1 prospect at the time.
Basketball will go the way of soccer. You'll see youth academies for NBA teams. Kids who aren't ready when school's over can go to college, or if they are on the cusp can join the G-League. The academies will ready athletes by 16, as most soccer academies do, so they can go further their studies, or start getting paid.
The NBA already has these outside the states. They just started one in India. It's exactly how professional soccer is run.
having development as an athlete tied to the education system has always struck me as weird. you don't need to attend a university to prepare yourself for every career, trade, or occupation -- why should that be the case for sports? So many people in this country take a "that's what the market dictates" attitude towards life but then get annoyed when it's apparent that "the market" offers opportunities outside of the established institutions that benefit (greatly) from sense of tradition and societal inertia.
I get that, but this dude isn't just skipping out on college. He's dropping out of high school.
The general point of an education for most is to prepare them for their adulthood and career. 1 year of high school, which is usually light load, won't impact his career if he is good enough at basketball. It could actually harm his future to be playing weaker competition and not getting paid.
Entry age into the NBA should be 14 years old. If a team wants to draft Bronny James at 14 and pay him the millions he is entitled to by being an AAU basketball star, so be it. God forbid any kid have to wait until they are an old man at age 19 to enter the NBA. That's blasphemy. Make the age 14, let these stupid GMs continue to draft on potential and pay 100x more than MLB pays minor leaguer's and be done with it. Boom- no lectures from Jay Bilas, no comparisons to slavery, none of that bullshit. If a kid can dunk in AAU, give him 10 million at age 14. If they declare at age 14, sign an agent, etc. then they can't play NCAA hoops. they can go to college of course, they just can't play hoops. Do this and be done with the nonsense.
child labor laws?
No different than child actors.
There are very strict requirements on child actors, which are more lenient that standard child labor laws. They can only work a number of hours a day, must maintain an education, etc. Link This requires the film and TV industry to work around the requirements of a child actor.
So, sports teams would probably need legislation in each state to get the same leniency.
I guess if basketball established leniency laws similar to acting for their sport, working around these requirements might be possible for basketball.
I don't think that's an issue. It's voluntary, a shit ton of money, and they do this in Europe with soccer players.
This 100%
Non-American leagues recruit young players all the time if they are head and shoulder above their competition. They pay the kids, bring them into their development academies, school them a little and play them a lot.
Offshore leagues will do this because they are in the business of constructing a globally competitive product. Soccer is the best example of this, and it is apparent that the major sporting clubs around the world are following suit with basketball as well.
Players. Will. Go. I don't think the current NCAA/draft/NBA pipeline can compete with this until they do the same thing. In the long run, college basketball doesn't stand a chance.
I'm surprised he didn't have to wait until he is 18 unless he has a European parent/passport like soccer players heading to Europe.