OT: Question about Foreign players and the Draft

[oshmeehan]

There are some knowledgable posters here on the Bucks board in regards to NBA rules and such, so I figured I'd pose this "question" on here rather than the general board

What I am wondering is do foreign players need to have declared for the draft at some point in time to play in the NBA? I would think not, so what is the reasoning for players like Yi, Gallinari, etc. to declare for the draft? Couldn't they technically sign with whichever team they wish? To my understanding Jorge Garbajosa was not drafted by an NBA team ever and he signed on with the Raptors. Is there a certain age a player has to be in order to do this?

The only reason I can think of as to declaring for the draft is to get the guaranteed contract and perhaps more money than if the player were just signed to a free agent contract.

I mean there has to be some kind of rule otherwise Yi would have just signed with whatever team he wanted to and not even declared for the draft last year. But then the whole deal with Garbajosa just signing with the Raptors would contradict that

[emunney]

To be an NBA free agent, you have to have gone undrafted first. Players can either declare early -- as Ilyasova, Gallinari, Darko and so many others have -- or they can wait until they're automatically eligible when they turn 22. I'm not sure exactly what the date cutoffs are for the ages of international players. in other words, I'm not sure when they have to turn 22 to be automatically eligible for that year's draft, but I do know that they can't become a free agent until they've been exposed to the draft. And, of course, once a team picks a player, they hold their NBA rights indefinitely.

To answer your question in specific terms: Garbajosa went undrafted when he was automatically eligible. Therefore, he was a free agent. Tiago Splitter, on the other hand, was finally automatically eligible last year. He was picked by the Spurs, but has thus far decided to remain overseas. Neither Yi nor Gallinari had the option of signing with an NBA team before exposure to the NBA draft. ALL players outside the NBA are automatically exposed to the draft when they're 22. Hope that clarifies somewhat.

[emunney]

To add one more point: If Yi had declared early and gone undrafted last year, he'd be a free agent immediately. He wouldn't have to wait until he was automatically eligible at 22, because he'd have already exposed himself to the process.

[benultimate]

That brings up an interesting point, if Yi really is 23 or 24 or whatever, he could have just declared that and he could have signed with any bigger market team he and his handlers wanted to.
Of course then there wouldn't have been the hype and his potential career earnings would be significantly less, so I guess it was a catch 22 situation for him.