2006 NBA Draft - Eligibility

Eligibility

The new collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) took into effect starting in this year's draft. Under the new agreement, high school players were not eligible for selection. The new rules stated that high school players must wait one year after their high school class graduates and must be at least 19 year old to be eligible for the draft.

The basic requirements for draft eligibility are:

• All drafted players must be at least 19 years of age during the calendar year of the draft (i.e., born on or before December 31, 1987).
• Any player who is not an "international player", as defined in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), must be at least one year removed from the graduation of his high school class.

The CBA defines "international players" as players who permanently resided outside the U.S. for three years before the draft, did not complete high school in the U.S., and have never enrolled at a U.S. college or university.

The basic requirement for automatic eligibility for a U.S. player is the completion of his college eligibility. Players who meet the CBA definition of "international players" are automatically eligible if their 22nd birthday falls during or before the calendar year of the draft (i.e., born on or before December 31, 1984).

A player who is not automatically eligible must declare his eligibility for the draft by notifying the NBA offices in writing no later than 60 days before the draft. An early entry candidate is allowed to withdraw his eligibility for the draft by notifying the NBA offices in writing no later than 10 days before the draft. On June 19, 2006, NBA announced that 37 college players and 10 international players had filed as early-entry candidates for the 2006 Draft, while 47 players who had previously declared as early entry candidates had withdrawn from the draft.