Anyone can enter NBA Draft, even if you've never played basketball

If you wantto be in the NBA, it helps to be, among other things, excellent atthe playing of basketball.

If you wantto be in the NBA draft, basketball skills aren’t required.

There is agroup of 18 people who are officially “draft eligible” forThursday’s festivities at Barclays Center in New York, and theyhave one thing in common: They will not be getting drafted. The NBAhas them on what it calls the B List — “unknown individuals,”officially. All that is required is fill out the necessarypaperwork to enter the draft, a process that has allowed some withno real basketball ability to apply.

It’s aphenomenon that’s not new. It’s gone on for nearly a half-century;some do it and generate attention, others have stayed quiet. It’sgimmicky, sure, but the rules are clear: If someone meets thegeneral criteria laid out by the NBA, then they can become“eligible” for the draft.

A law studentfrom Florida named Jordan Haber is one of this year’s 18 names;he’s posted several videos to TikTok detailing how he got into thisyear’s draft. He’s said he will be at Barclays Center on Thursdaynight for the draft — with tickets from the arena’s social mediateam, not an invite from the NBA.

WHO CAN ENTERTHE DRAFT?

It’s reallyquite simple, as laid out in Article X, Section 1 of the currentCollective Bargaining Agreement (which is only in effect until July1, but the rule on this isn’t expected to change much).

A player hasto be at least 19 during the calendar year in which the draft isbeing held, and at least one NBA season must have elapsed since theplayer graduated (or should have graduated) from high school. Fromthere, all someone needs to do is express interest to the NBA atleast two months before the draft, forgo the rest of their collegeeligibility if necessary, and fill out some paperwork.

There areother rules, especially relating to international players, butthat’s basically it.

IS THIS ALOOPHOLE IN THE SYSTEM?

No, it’s nota loophole. It’s part of a process that has existed for years. TheB List is an avenue for the longest of long shots to see if theycan make it. The first person known to apply was a player namedReinhard Schmuck, who played in nine games in one season atDivision III’s Baruch College. He tried to get into the NBA twoyears later and told The Washington Post in 1987 that he was doingso to raise awareness for Baruch’s athletic programs.

“I’m really anobody,” the newspaper quoted Schmuck as saying. “I wanted to do itbecause there are so many kids who give up on their dreams.”

HOW MANY HAVEDONE THIS?

There’s noofficial count, but it’s believed to be in the hundreds. AuthorJeff Pearlman did it as a student at Delaware in 1993; in a piecehe wrote a few years later for Sports Illustrated, Pearlmanrevealed that the NBA called to say “nobody here has heard ofyou.”

In 2008, astudent from Washington University in St. Louis named ZacharyFeinstein took a shot at getting into the NBA and detailed theexploits on a web page.

He revealedthis on that page: “Also, I do not play basketball,” he said.

But he gotinto the draft anyway.