Former Charlotte Hornets guard Amari Bailey is looking to make history with a return to college basketball. Bailey told ESPN’s Dan Murphy that he has hired an agent and a lawyer and is prepared to fight for NCAA eligibility after playing 10 NBA games.
“Right now I’d be a senior in college,” Bailey said. “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,” Bailey stated. “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.”
Bailey, a 6’3″ guard, played one season at UCLA, averaging 11.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game in 2022-23. He then headed to the NBA and was selected by the Hornets with the 41st pick in the 2023 NBA Draft.
The Hornets signed Bailey to a two-way contract, and he’d split time with Greensboro Swarm, their G League affiliate, in his rookie season. He’d play in just 10 NBA games as a rookie, putting up 2.3 points, 0.9 rebounds, 0.7 assists, and 0.3 steals per game.
The Brooklyn Nets then signed Bailey in September 2024, only to waive him in October. He signed with the Long Island Nets, their G League affiliate, days later, but was traded to the Iowa Wolves in December.
With no NBA opportunities coming his way, Bailey started exploring a return to college basketball in 2025. He wondered if there was a way back, as no basketball player has played at the collegiate level after playing in the NBA.
The NCAA prohibits anyone who has signed a professional contract from playing college sports unless the money they made covers only ” actual and necessary expenses.” A couple of recent cases would have given Bailey some hope.
Charles Bediako had signed a two-way deal with the San Antonio Spurs after going undrafted in 2023 and featured for the Austin Spurs in the G League. Bediako would also play for the Grand Rapids Gold and Motor City Cruise, and then, like Bailey, decided he wanted to head back to college to play for Alabama again. He won an injunction in a state court against the NCAA, and the organization is fighting to overturn that decision.
A point that Bediako had brought up was that the NCAA had allowed James Nnaji to play for Baylor. The Detroit Pistons had selected Nnaji with the 31st pick in the 2023 NBA Draft and then traded him to the Hornets. He’d never play in the NBA or the G League, but did play professionally in Europe.
Bailey believes that his playing a few minutes in the NBA isn’t a good reason to treat him differently from Bediako and Nnaji.
“You’ve got a college-aged kid who wants to go to college, and you’ve got a system that says, ‘Too bad, you’ve gone to a different league so you’re out forever,'” said Elliot Abrams, Bailey’s attorney. “I don’t see any real justification for it.”
The NCAA, of course, would disagree. Tim Buckley, the NCAA’s senior vice president of external affairs, put out a statement on X in response to Bailey’s plan.
“The NCAA has not and will not grant eligibility to any players who have signed an NBA contract. Congress can strengthen NCAA rules so professional athletes cannot sue their way back to competing against college students.”
It will be interesting to see how this situation pans out.
