Michigan State Basketball: 3 reasons Emoni Bates will play college ball

1. NBA is unlikely to get one-and-done rule changed soon

Everyone who believes Emoni Bates suiting up for Michigan State is a long-shot — I was also included in this group before researching — has used the one-and-done rule change as the main reason for those thoughts.

The NBA has talked for years about removing the one-and-done rule and just allowing kids to go right from high school to the NBA (much like it used to be) but negotiations have stalled.

In fact, there was talk that the one-and-done rule could be gone before the 2021 NBA Draft, but that fell through. Now it’s the 2022 NBA Draft that’s the aim, but that seems to be falling through as the NBA is dragging its feet and owners aren’t huge fans of the proposed change.

According to an April article from CBS Sports’ Colin Ward-Henninger, the NBA is unlikely to make a chance to the rule any time soon — and that includes by 2022.

Ward-Henninger quoted ESPN reporter Adrian Wojnarowski’s podcast which sheds more light on the issue:

"A lot of us believed a year ago, 18 months ago, that the NBA and the player’s association would come to an agreement on ending the one-and-done — they would set a date in the future, but we thought it would be 2022, 2023 when high school players would be able to go back in the draft. That has not happened. It is not on the horizon, largely because the union and the league, as part of letting the high school players back into the draft, the league has wanted players to have to make available their physicals and medical evaluations to all teams … The union, backed very hard by the agents, had said, ‘That’s not something we’re gonna give in on. We’re not going to give you full access medically. That’s the one advantage that we feel we have as agents and players to control the process.’ That’s been the major sticking point for a couple of years now. And there’s a real strong possibility that the one-and-done conversation isn’t picked up again until the next collective bargaining agreement in 2025."

So if the agreement isn’t made relatively soon (which it doesn’t seem like it will be), the NBA may not have one-and-done rule change discussions again for another five years. That would mean Emoni would have to either choose the G-League (he’s not interested) or college ball.

Emoni’s commitment to Michigan State holds more weight than people think.