Philadelphia 76ers' Nerlens Noel thinks raising the age limit isn't 'the worst idea'

Back in 2005, then NBA commissioner David Stern was in favor of raising the NBA’s age limit to 19.

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As you would expect, most players disagreed with Stern, claiming that if you are ready to take a job out of a high school and a team is willing to pay you to do that job, you should have the right to do so. Ultimately, the two sides wound up agreeing that 19 would be the age you had to reach before entering the NBA.

Now that Stern has retired, his replacement, Adam Silver, is once again pushing to raise the NBA’s age limit to 20.

“I’ve been a proponent of raising the age from 19 to 20 because I think it would make for a better league,” Silver said Thursday at the league’s office in a conference with sports editors via Lorenzo Reyes of The “USA Today. “I believe and continue to believe it will be in the best interest of the league. I think that the extra year in college will be a benefit for these young men to grow and develop as people and basketball players.”

Most players are expected to disagree with Silver and some already have, but Philadelphia 76ers’ rookie big man Nerlens Noel isn’t one of them.

“I don’t think it’s the worst idea,” Noel told ESPN 97.3 The Sports Bash in South New Jersey via Kurt Helin of Pro Basketball Talk. “But the one year of college was definitely the best thing for me… I think it’s a good idea but then again the one year was enough for me and the other guys making the move and being successful with it. But Adam Silver is a great commissioner and he’s doing what’s in the best interest of the next generation.”

Noel, the sixth-overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, missed the entire season while rehabbing from a torn ACL.

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Philadelphia 76ers’ Nerlens Noel thinks raising the age limit isn’t ‘the worst idea’

By Andrew Melnick | May 28, 2014