Adam Silver has revealed that he would like to raise the minimum age for players in the NBA from 19 to 20.
The league's new commissioner has confirmed that he has not ruled out pushing for the move when the collective bargaining agreement is negotiated in three seasons.
Silver told USA Today: "It's hard to tell. I never quite understood the player opposition. Of course it's a zero sum game in terms of numbers of jobs, and amount of salary we pay out. We pay out roughly 50% of [basketball-related income], and that's divided among the players in the league.
"So there is absolutely, and by definition can't be, a financial savings to us by increasing the age to 20. It has been our belief that we have a better chance to grow the [financial] pie that gets divided 50-50 if we increase the age and create, in essence, a more competitive league.
"[It has been our sense for a long time that our Draft would be more competitive if our teams had an opportunity to see these players play an additional year, whether it be in college or professionally in the Development League or overseas."
The 51-year-old took over from David Stern at the start of the month.
Sian Cowper
