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What if a player declined to enter the draft and then say a month later decided to go pro? Couldn't he sign with a team? Do you have to declare for the draft to later sign as a free agent? I don't think you have to. It seems like some internationals don't. I dunno if every training camp invitee went thru a draft declaration. What about injured players who return? Or guys who drop out of college? Wouldn't an "open" NBA tryout be a violation if this was a standard?

What if a team hired a really good young player who happened to be 16, 17 or 18 as an assistant player development "trainer" or as an assistant video coordinator? What if this guy did the first suggestion when he turned 19? Circumvention. But would a court take the case and support individual freedoms? Probably not.

international players generally meet the criteria for "automatic eligibility" and thus no need to declare - they are automatically in the draft, and if they go undrafted, they can sign anywhere
i think the same may be true for anybody 4 years past hs graduation

Internationals are automatic at a certain advanced age.

But the question of playing in NBA without going thru draft eligibility remains. There may be a rule or something I am missing but it still needs to emerge. And that is only part of what I am looking at, bending, testing here, for a possible crack even though it could / would be filled by use of authority / new rules even if it looked like it might technically work or should work.

gotcha. there was this (rule 1a), but i'm not sure if it's from the old cba or what: http://www.webcitation.org/6EMRU2GS1?ur ... LE%20X.pdf

I don't know the specific rule of the CBA, but yes, all players must go through the draft. If a player were to turn pro without declaring for the draft, he would be able to sign with another pro team -- including the D-League -- but would automatically become eligible for the following draft and could not play in the NBA until that point.

You see this occasionally with players who are kicked off their college teams and then sign in the D-League, like P.J. Hairston.

Ok, declare, next draft, then try to play NBA. If it were as easy as I formulated, it would / should be a superhighway. (Still an open NBA tryout would seem likely a potential violation / exception. But ignored because it would be very unlikely.)

The hire a young guy as an employee idea wouldn't protect him from the draft process but it would be a way to get to know a guy and try to build interest in coming back. Maybe teach them analytic basketball ideas. But the league would probably rule this as illegal contact & enticement. You'd have to like to antagonize the league (or fight for freedom) to try this. Maybe you could get away with it with an injured player or a guy who couldn't qualify academically for D1 or got kicked out... and then try more later.