NBA player Amari Bailey, who played one season at UCLA from 2022-23, has hired an agent and a lawyer in an attempt to get the green light to return to college basketball, ESPN reported on Friday.
“Right now, I’d be a senior in college,” Bailey, 21, told ESPN about seeking NCAA eligibility. “I’m not trying to be 27 years old playing college athletics. No shade to the guys that do; that’s their journey. But I went to go play professionally and learned a lot, went through a lot. So, like, why not me? … It’s not a stunt. I’m really serious about going back. I just want to improve my game, change the perception of me and just show that I can win.”
NCAA senior vice president of external affairs Tim Buckley said that “the NCAA has not and will not grant eligibility to any players who have signed an NBA contract.”
Bailey, a second-round selection of the Charlotte Hornets in the 2023 NBA Draft, appeared in 10 games in his rookie season. He has since played for the G League affiliate teams of the Hornets, Brooklyn Nets and Minnesota Timberwolves.
In his one season at UCLA, Bailey averaged 11.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.1 steals per game, while shooting 49.5/38.9/69.8.
Should Bailey return to college basketball, it would continue a recent trend of players who have left the collegiate scene returning, including James Nnaji and Charles Bediako. Nnaji played professionally overseas before being selected in the second round of the 2023 NBA Draft by the Detroit Pistons, but he never appeared in an NBA game. He joined the Baylor Bears in December. Bediako played two seasons at Alabama (2021-22 and 2022-23) before going pro, though he went undrafted. The former Crimson Tide big man played for the G League affiliate teams of the San Antonio Spurs and Denver Nuggets before returning to Alabama earlier this month.
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