Ever since the pandemic, the NCAA has been absolutely destroyed by litigation at every turn. Lawsuits have recently allowed Juco players to attain extra eligibility, COVID waivers, and the mass expansion
of Name, Image, and Likeness that has turned the institution into a de facto professional minor league.
The latest phenomenon includes players who have played in the G-League returning several years later through a strange loophole.
Thierry Darlan played for three different G League teams and a team in Africa, but was granted two years of eligibility for Santa Clara through a loophole that has allowed international players to play in college in the past. Add in the increasing blur of college and pro, along with the G League Ignite’s strange existence, and boom.
It happened again with London Johnson, a Jamaican-born guard who played for the Ignite, Cleveland Charge, and Maine Celtics, committing to Louisville in October. Even a Westchester Knick was implicated, as big man Abdullah Ahmed committed to BYU in November.
The NCAA’s increasing fear of further litigation has opened a Pandora’s Box, one that has essentially made every young athlete who hasn’t put on an NBA jersey eligible for college basketball. The latest such tester of this bizarre situation? Eurostash center James Nnaji, who has been ruled eligible to play college basketball, will enroll at Baylor.
If Nnaji’s name sounds familiar, he was selected No. 31 overall by the Charlotte Hornets in the 2023 NBA Draft and his draft rights were traded to the Knicks in September 2024 in the Karl-Anthony Towns trade. After spending his first year under the Brock Aller umbrella in Europe, he made the decision to come to America to pursue a roster spot.
He participated in the NBA Summer League, but didn’t stand out: averaging just 3.2 points and 2.5 rebounds in 12.9 minutes a night in five games. The Knicks did have to ink a player to a second-round exception deal that offseason, but decided to go with Mo Diawara instead. When it came time to fill out the two-way’s, the team elected to go external, signing Tosan Evbuomwan and Trey Jemison III to go along with incumbent Kevin McCullar Jr.
So Nnaji was without a Knicks contract and had already cut ties with FC Barcelona, but could’ve headed to Westchester with fellow camp invite Dink Pate. Instead, he remained idle until Christmas, making a historic move and becoming the first player to return to college after being drafted.
Truth be told: I have no idea what this means for the Knicks. How this goes will either make Leon Rose and Brock Aller extremely happy or extremely pissed off. If Nnaji is allowed to go through the collegiate ropes and eventually the draft again, the Knicks essentially lost a player’s draft rights for something out of their control.
Yet, I don’t think the NBA would do that. The most likely option appears to be that Nnaji’s draft rights will remain in the Knicks’ hands, as Fred Katz seems to suggest. After all, no player has ever been allowed to be drafted twice. But in these unprecedented times, can we say anything for sure?
Nnaji is only 21, the same age as Darlan. That would seem to suggest he’d get two years of eligibility, but with this season currently halfway through, you wonder if he’d just redshirt this season. If the Knicks are able to retain his rights, this would suddenly turn into a massive opportunity for Leon Rose’s operation to develop an international prospect in a collegiate system and have him ready for the NBA at age 23 if his raw athleticism allows him to thrive in college.
I’m sure there’s a lot more to unpack here. Nnaji might be involved in further litigation about eligibility and draft status. There might be questions as to if this is fair. What this also could do is turn the NBA into a NHL-like system, where players can remain in college with their draft rights already owned by a professional team.
In that case, could the Knicks draft players like they have been with Pacome Dadiet and Diawara and just point them to college? What about the 13 draft stashes that Brock Aller has accrued, including the forgotten Rokas Jokubaitis? Do they now have a path to America?
We are in scary times, indeed.
