David Stern on the Age Limit

I really like Bill Simmons. His story is the dream of many bloggers -- start a website doing something you love, then get hired by a major company to do that same thing (only for a paycheck!). And now, in addition to columns on sports movies and gambling, he has begun doing some very interesting interviews. This week, he has one with David Stern. The chat covers a wide range of topics, including conspiracy theories ("the frozen envelope") and the WNBA ("It's probably the last and best shot for a successful women's professional sports league.").

But the most interesting segment (in my opinion) was Stern's take on the age limit. In a nutshell, the NBA went for it because it is good for business:

This was not a social program, this was a business issue. There was a serious sense that this was hurting our game. Having an 18-year-old player not playing, sitting on the bench, is not good for basketball. If we could have these kids develop for another year, either (A) they'd see that they weren't so good, and we'd see that they weren't so good, or (B) they would get better, and when they came, they would be able to make a contribution. And that would improve the status of basketball.

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. . . [P]eople were killing us for it, they were saying, "Oh, the basketball's terrible because the players are too young, they don't have the requisite skills, they don't have this, they don't have that." Actually, some do, some don't, a year later they're going to be better, [plus] the opportunity to send them down, like a Gerald Green, to get minutes so the team could say, "You know what, he looked good. He got his rhythm back, he got his confidence back, he got to play a few minutes." That was the whole idea. This last collective bargaining agreement was about basketball and about player reputation. It wasn't about the money."

Granted, Stern's argument does not address the potential antitrust problems of the age limit (I think- 5/25/04, as does Prof. Gary Roberts - 4/7/05, that there is not a concern; Mike thinks there is - 2/7/06).

But it does respond to Mike's excellent points regarding whether -- as a matter of policy -- leagues should have age floors. It is true that age limits will harm the interests of certain players (i.e., Frank Gore and Randy Livingston), but at the end of the day, if the NBA as a whole is not healthy, all of the players will suffer. Stern has a duty to maximize not only the growth and revenue of the NBA, but the popularity of basketball as a whole. By doing so, he ensures that hundreds more young men -- economically disadvantaged and otherwise -- will have an opportunity to make millions of dollars playing a game they love.