Key takeaways
- Check two things for any prospect: is he at least 19 during the calendar year of the draft, and, if not an international player, has a full NBA season passed since his high-school class graduated?
- Know that a younger player who meets those two conditions enters as an early-entry candidate by writing to the league at least 60 days before the draft.
- Remember the withdrawal deadline: an early-entry candidate must notify the league 10 days before the draft, and can withdraw from no more than two drafts.
- For international prospects, apply the CBA's definition, three years living and playing outside the US with no US college or high-school graduation, before assuming the one-year rule applies.
- Treat draft rights as time-limited: a team must make a required tender, by 15 July for a first-round pick, to keep exclusive rights to an unsigned draftee.
To be eligible for the NBA draft, a player must be at least 19 at some point in the calendar year of the draft. If he is not an "international player" as the league's labour agreement defines one, at least one NBA season must also have passed since his high-school class graduated. On top of those two conditions, he must fit one of seven routes into the draft. A player who fits none of the others can simply declare, by writing to the league at least 60 days before the draft as an "early entry" candidate.
These rules live in Article X of the collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and the players' union, the agreement in force from 2023-24 through 2029-30. The NBA's own summary, CBA 101, puts the core of it in one line: a player must be "at least 19 years old by the end of the calendar year of the Draft" and, for US players, "at least one year removed from high school."
The rule in two parts
Article X works as a two-part test. A player is eligible for the first draft in which he meets both conditions in Part 1 and at least one route in Part 2.
Part 1: both of these.
- He is, or will be, at least 19 during the calendar year of the draft.
- Unless he is an international player, at least one NBA season has passed since his high-school graduation. If he did not graduate, the clock starts from when his class would have.
Part 2: any one of these.
| Route | Who it covers |
|---|---|
| A | Graduated from a four-year US college, or will in the draft year, with no college eligibility left |
| B | Attended a four-year US college whose original class has graduated, with no college eligibility left |
| C | Graduated from a US high school, did not go to a four-year US college, and four calendar years have passed since graduation |
| D | Did not graduate from a US high school, and four calendar years have passed since his class would have graduated |
| E | Is or will be 22 in the draft year, signed a non-NBA professional contract, and played under it before 1 January of the draft year |
| F | Is or will be 22 in the draft year and is an international player |
| G | Told the NBA in writing, at least 60 days before the draft, that he wants to be selected: an "early entry" player |
Routes A to F make a player eligible without declaring, because of his age or history. Route G is how everyone else gets in.
Two blanket rules sit on top. No player may sign a contract or play in the NBA unless he has been eligible for at least one draft, which is why the waiting period applies to undrafted players too. And no player is eligible for selection in more than two drafts.
Who counts as an international player
The definition matters because international players skip the high-school clock in Part 1. Under the CBA, an international player has:
- kept a permanent home outside the United States for at least the three years before the draft, while playing basketball there as an amateur or a professional;
- never enrolled in a US college or university; and
- not completed high school in the United States.
Such a player still has to be 19 in the draft year, and still needs a route. Before the year he turns 22, that route is early entry; from then on he is eligible without declaring, under Route F.
A "non-NBA professional basketball contract", which matters for Route E, has a specific meaning too: one that pays more than a stipend for living expenses.
Early entry: declaring and withdrawing
The early-entry process has three dates that matter:
| Step | Deadline in the CBA |
|---|---|
| Declare | Written notice received by the NBA at least 60 days before the draft |
| Withdraw | Written notice received by the NBA 10 days before the draft |
| Limit | A player may withdraw from no more than two drafts |
College players who test the draft and want to keep their college eligibility also have to satisfy their own governing body's rules, which sit outside the NBA agreement and are not covered here.
The NBA Draft Combine adds one more condition. Invited players must attend and take part fully, including the medical testing. An invited player who does not, and is not excused, is ineligible for that year's draft, and an early-entry player in that position is treated as having withdrawn.
What happens once a player is drafted
The draft has two rounds, each with as many picks as there are teams, and the CBA requires it to be held before 10 July. As of early October 2026, the league's calendar for the season does not yet list dates for the 2027 lottery or draft.
Drafting a player gives a team exclusive negotiating rights until the next draft, but only if it makes a "required tender", a qualifying contract offer. The deadline is 15 July for a first-round pick and 5 August for a second-round pick, for drafts from 2024 onward.
- If the team tenders and the player has not signed by the next draft, the team loses its exclusive rights and the player can be drafted again.
- If the team never tenders, the player becomes a rookie free agent: on 16 July for a first-round pick, or 6 August for a second-round pick.
- If an early-entry pick goes back to college, the drafting team keeps exclusive rights until one year after the draft in which he would otherwise first have been eligible, provided it keeps tendering.
The order of the top of the draft is a separate subject. From the 2027 Draft, the league's "3-2-1 Lottery" expands the lottery from 14 teams to 16 and changes how the odds are shared; how draft lotteries work explains what lotteries are trying to fix, and how draft order works in football leagues covers reverse-standings ordering.
The paths the rule creates
Read together, the rules leave a prospect with a small number of real choices in the year after high school:
| Path | What the rule requires |
|---|---|
| A US college season, then declare | Age 19 in the draft year and one season since high school; early entry by the 60-day deadline |
| Playing professionally abroad | The same age and timing conditions; at 22, with a professional contract he has played under, he is eligible without declaring under Route E |
| Raised and playing outside the US | Age 19 and early entry; no high-school clock; eligible without declaring in the year he turns 22 |
| Staying in college to the end | Eligible without declaring once his college class has graduated and his college eligibility is used up |
None of these paths is the "right" one. The rule fixes the timing and leaves the route to the player.
In a career simulation
Basketball Career Sim runs a fictional career through youth basketball, high school, recruiting and college, then the draft and the pro years. It is a fictional simulation, so nothing above describes how its draft works. The real rule is still useful context, because it explains why the stages before the draft carry so much weight. The recruiting stage covers how the game handles those years, and the career sim guide covers the full arc.
From the other side of the table, Pro Basketball GM Franchise starts with a draft board of its own, and how a basketball draft simulator works explains what that kind of board asks of you. More basketball explainers are on the basketball hub, and our sports titles are in the sports GM category.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
How old do you have to be to enter the NBA draft?
Can a player go straight from high school to the NBA?
What is the early entry deadline for the NBA draft?
How does draft eligibility work for international players?
What happens after a player is drafted?
Sources
- 2023 NBA-NBPA Collective Bargaining Agreement (full text), Article X (opens in a new tab)National Basketball Players Association — accessed
- CBA: 2023 NBA-NBPA Collective Bargaining Agreement (opens in a new tab)National Basketball Players Association — accessed
- CBA 101: Highlights of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (prepared by the NBA, November 2024) (opens in a new tab)National Basketball Association — accessed
- Key dates for 2026-27 NBA season (opens in a new tab)NBA.com — accessed
- NBA Board of Governors approves new Draft Lottery system to address tanking (opens in a new tab)NBA.com — accessed
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