Olympic Age Restriction Debate

David Stern discusses only allowing players 23 and under to compete

Keywords: david stern, kobe bryant

Commissioner David Stern has been floating around an idea that would put an age restriction on NBA player’s competing in the Olympics. The rule would prevent anybody over the age of 23 from playing basketball in the Olympic games. Of course a major change like this would garner quite a bit of backlash, led by none other then Kobe Bryant.

“It’s a stupid idea. It should be a player’s choice. Basically, it’s just a dumb idea and we discuss it that way.We just discuss it like that and kind of voice our opinions through you (media) guys.”

 

I 100% disagree with Kobe on this one. I think Stern is spot on with this idea, which is something I will probably never say again. The Olympics are supposed to be a competition for amateurs. It sort of loses some luster when you have a team of All Stars and MVP’s.

Personally I don’t think they should stop at 23. I would prefer that the Olympics was restricted purely to college basketball players, or guys straight out of college like Anthony Davis. The whole professional thing has led to just USA domination, which has gotten quite tiresome. Now I honestly don’t expect either of these things to happen. Unfortunately the players have too much of a say in these types of things, and they will not let Stern restrict them from playing for their country.