One of the most controversial regulations in all of professional sports is the highly discussed one-and-done rule in today’s NBA. A player looking to enter the NBA draft must spend at least one year out of high school prior to being eligible.
Whether it be playing overseas or a solo collegiate season at some university, players aren’t permitted to become NBA stars directly out of high school. When Detroit Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy was asked about his take on the one-and-done rule, the outspoken 58-year-old had his own take on it.
Van Gundy called out the system for having a racist background, citing that these same issues don’t arise in the much more white-driven professional leagues of baseball and hockey. Following from Detroit Free Press’ Vincent Ellis:
SVG dropped this gem on the one-and-done rule: “People that were against (players) coming out (of high school) made a lot of excuses, but I think a lot of it was racist. I’ve never heard anybody go up in arms about (minor-league baseball or hockey)."
— NerdOnPistons????? (@Vincent_Ellis56) February 25, 2018
Stan Van Gundy isn’t the only one with strong opinions towards the one-and-done rule as countless others have also called for it to be amended. Players used to be eligible fresh out of high school, and in fact, some of the biggest names in NBA history took that route.
Commissioner Adam Silver himself has looked at making any requisite changes to the rule. The savvy commissioner already announced that changes are coming to the rule and if more figures such as Stan Van Gundy continue to speak out, the amendments could come sooner rather than later.
