Articles X and VIII of the Collective Bargaining Agreement cover the NBA Draft eligibility.

Per the CBA, no player may sign a contract with an NBA team unless that player has first been eligible for an NBA Draft. In addition, no player may be eligible for selection in more than two NBA Drafts (more on this later in the piece). 

Since the NBA uses different rules for International and non-International players, that is the best place to start.

According to Article X, Section 1 (c), an “international player” has to fulfill three requirements:

  • Maintained a permanent residence outside of the United States for at least three years before the Draft while participating in basketball as an amateur or as a professional outside of the United States
  • Never previously enrolled in a college or university in the United States
  • Did not complete high school in the United States

That definition is different from one most people would think about and makes many foreign-born players non-international according to the CBA, including Andrew Wiggins and Emmanuel Mudiay. 

A non-international player is eligible when he is or will be 19 years of age in the calendar year in which the Draft is held, is one year removed from his high school class having graduated and meets at least one of the following requirements:

  • Has graduated from a four year college in the United States and he has no remaining collegiate eligibility.
  • His original college class in the United States has graduated and he has no remaining collegiate eligibility.
  • He graduated from high school, never enrolled in a US college or university and four calendar years have passed since the player’s high school graduation.
  • He did not graduate from high school in the US and four calendar years have passed since the graduation of the class the player would have graduated with had he graduated from high school
  • The player has signed a contract to play professional basketball outside of the NBA and has rendered services prior to the January 1 of that Draft year
  • The player has entered the NBA Draft as an Early Entry player at least 60 days prior to the NBA Draft.

An international player is eligible for the NBA Draft when he is or will be 19 years of age in the calendar year in which the Draft is held and meets at least one of the following requirements:

  • Was not covered under the preceding eligibility guidelines outlined above.
  • The player is or will be 22 years of age during the calendar year of the Draft.
  • The player has signed a contract to play (and has played) professional basketball for a non-NBA team.
  • The player has entered the Draft as an Early Entry player at least 60 days before the NBA Draft.

Most of these requirements actually describe players who are automatically eligible (look at the age 22 bullet above for a clear example) but have the early entry guidelines as well.

 

Being Re-Drafted

If a player is drafted in a given Draft, chooses to not sign a contract with any professional basketball team and does not sign with the team who selected him in the NBA Draft, that player is then eligible for re-selection in the next NBA Draft. The CBA refers to the NBA Draft where a player was first eligible as the Initial Draft and the next NBA Draft where a player is eligible as the Subsequent Draft. If the player is selected in the Subsequent Draft and again chooses to not sign a contract with any professional basketball team, the player then becomes a Rookie Free Agent at the time of the next NBA Draft.

 

NCAA Eligibility after Declaring for a Draft

Under current NCAA rules, players are not eligible to declare for the NBA Draft and then return to college after hiring an Agent. The only players who can return to school after declaring as an Early Entry player are those who have not hired an agent. Interestingly, the CBA has language regarding these circumstances should the NCAA change its rules.