With recent FBI investigations into the NCAA and players receiving unauthorized compensation, discussions around these players and their futures are resurfacing once more. One issue is, of course, the one-and-done rule, where ballers play one year of college because NBA eligibility requires them to be one year removed from high school. Warriors forward Kevin Durant, for one, thinks the rule should be done away with.
“You want these players to go out there and play on the biggest stage," he said in a video captured by The Athletic's Anthony Slater. "The Final Four is one of the biggest sporting events in the world, in sports, and they don’t get a dime for it. I don’t think it’s right. They go out there. They slave for these programs. To go out there and win a championship. These fans go to the game to see these players. Just like the NBA, they want to see the best players.”
Durant went on to say it should ultimately be up to each individual player to decide their own path to the league.
“You should let these kids make a decision, however they want to. If they want to come out of high school, it should be on them. You know what I mean? You can’t control everything," he said, "So if they feel as though they’re ready, that’s on them.”
Durant himself played at the University of Texas for a year before making his way to the NBA in 2007. He added that if not for the one-and-done rule, he most likely would have gone directly to the NBA from high school. "I needed the money," he said flatly.
