Former UCLA player Amari Bailey has publicly stated that he wants to return to play in the NCAA despite having already played ten games in the NBA with the Charlotte Hornets. The NCAA has already made it known that it intends to oppose the return of a player who has signed a professional contract in the NBA, but in all likelihood Bailey will try to get the green light through the courts
NIL contracts have forever changed the world of college basketball, allowing college team players to get paid — and receiving figures that many professionals often cannot reach. After the case of James Nnaji and that of Charles Bediako, another professional player is trying to return to the NCAA: it’s Amari Baileywhich after an excellent first year at UCLA had been selected in the second round with the number 41 in the 2023 draft by the Charlotte Hornets. Bailey spent the vast majority of his first year playing in the G-League with a contratto two-waybut it still went down on the pitch for ten games (but only the last two of the season with more than 10 minutes on the pitch) among NBA professionalsscoring 11 points with 5 rebounds and 5 assists on April 14 against Cleveland. Bailey was then cut by the Hornets and signed by the Brooklyn Nets, who in turn cut him and then sent him to the G-League. Now Bailey, on the threshold of turning 22 on February 17, would like to become eligible for college again and has already hired a lawyer like Elliot Abrams (who in his career has already dealt with similar cases against the NCAA) making it clear that he wants to go to court to be eligible again, even if at the moment he has not yet carried out any proceedings and does not yet publicly have an agreement with a university. “Right now I would be a senior in college” Bailey told ESPN. “I’m not a 27-year-old trying to play against college guys, although I have no problem with guys who do that. I went to play professionally and I learned a lot, and I went through a lot. So, why not me?“.
The positions of Bailey’s lawyer and the NCAA
“In what world a group of universities they can band together to stop a college-age kid from going back to college simply because he signed a contract with a particular employer?” Abrams said. “The NCAA preventing Amari from returning would be all the more absurd now that the NCAA welcomes European professional athletes with open arms. In my opinion, our Constitution and laws do not allow entities to discriminate against American children – and denying Amari eligibility would fall into that category.” the NCAA has already made it known through Tim Buckley (NCAA senior vice president for external affairs) of not wanting to grant such a return: “The NCAA does not want to and will not grant eligibility to any player who has signed an NBA contract. Congress can strengthen NCAA rules so that professional athletes cannot use the courts to return to competing against college students.”
I preceded by James Nnaji and Charles Bediako
During this season the NCAA has already been called to express its opinion on the case of James Nnajichosen in the 2023 draft at number 31 but without ever debuting in the NBA or G-League. Nnaji was allowed to play in the NCAA by joining Baylor University because he never signed an NBA contract, coming to the states directly from the ACB league and effectively being equated with one of the many Europeans who are eligible in the NCAA. However, the case of Bediako is differentwhich he had already played at Alabama until 2023 before declaring for the Draft (without being selected) and then signing a two-way contract with the San Antonio Spurs and then subsequently with Denver and Detroit, although without ever making his NBA debut. The NCAA opposed Bediako’s return in collegebut through the Alabama courts (and not without controversy due to some conflicts of interest) it is managed to return to play for the Crimson Tideeven if the judicial process is not yet concluded. However, Bailey’s case would obviously be different as he played ten games in the NBA, potentially setting a precedent for many other players.
