ESPN Radio/True Hoop on Rationality, Race Sensitivity and Legality of NBA Age Limit

During last week's MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference -- which was truly amazing -- ESPN's Henry Abbott interviewed for me for 21 minutes on the NBA age limit (more technically called the league's "eligibility restriction").  The rule requires that players be 19-years-old plus one year removed from high school.

We talk about why the rule exists, how it relates to the commercialization of college basketball, whether it, along with the NFL and WNBA's age limits, could be deemed racist in light of the absence of such restrictions in other sports and forms of entertainment, and its vulnerability to legal challenge.  I also accepted Henry's challenge to impersonate Tom Cruise from the movies The Firm and Jerry Maguire.

Hope you can listen to the interview.  For a related piece, be sure to check out SI's Zach Lowe's excellent analysis and summary of the age limit issue.

Update: Henry also interviews Sonny Vaccaro and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on this topic and related issues.