“I mean if it’s legal,” Drew said, “why wouldn’t we do …

Story by

To Baylor coach Scott Drew, adding James Nnaji was a no-brainer. “I mean if it’s legal,” Drew said, “why wouldn’t we do it?” Drew said Baylor started working on Nnaji’s eligibility in October. Here’s the loophole Baylor was able to make use of: Under NBA rules, international players playing professionally overseas are automatically draft eligible once they turn 22. But the NCAA had already cleared Virginia’s Thijs De Ridder and Texas A&M’s Ruben Dominguez, international players who had gone undrafted, setting a precedent that could have made it difficult for the NCAA to win in court had it ruled Nnaji ineligible. Like De Ridder and Dominguez, Nnaji, a 21-year-old from Nigeria, never enrolled in college, never signed an NBA contract and has yet to play a minute in the NBA. He just happened to get drafted.

New York Times