If Bamba — the massive Texas center who will likely be taking his 7-foot-10 wingspan to a lottery team at the NBA draft next month — was a high school senior in 2020, he probably would have bypassed college and made the jump straight to the league. The expectation around the NBA is that will be the year where so-called “one-and-done” rule will come off the books and players will no longer have to wait a season before going to the pro ranks.
Out of the 30 first-round picks that will be made at the draft, it’s entirely possible that as many as 25 will have played no more than one season of college basketball.