The new guidelines also are more in line with laws in 43 states and the District of Columbia that require youth and high-school athletes to beremovedfrom play and to return only after at least 24 hours and with the permission of a health-care professional.
In the middle of the prior decade, NBA players and owners, amid concern over the flight of high schoolers directly into the pros, changed its eligibility requirements so that a player had to be 19 years of age in the calendar year of the draft and a year removedfrom high school graduation.