If there’s one simple truth about fixing college sports, it starts here: stop pretending this is still amateur athletics.
This isn’t a hot take anymore — it’s a reality check. And the clearest evidence arrived this week in Waco, Texas.
James Nnaji, a former NBA draft pick with professional experience, has enrolled at Baylor and is expected to be immediately eligible to play. A few years ago, that sentence would have sounded completely insane. Remember Enes Freedom? A situation like this would have triggered months of NCAA scrutiny.
Today? It barely raises an eyebrow. Welcome to the Wild West of college basketball — a landscape where the NCAA’s rulebook is no longer a set of rules but more like a polite suggestion. The organization clings to power it no longer truly holds.
College Basketball Is Living in a Loophole Economy
When Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rights first arrived, there was a naive hope: players could earn endorsements legitimately, build their brands, and schools could avoid the messy “pay-for-play” business. That dream evaporated almost immediately.
Instead, we got collectives operating as shadow payrolls, recruiting as an open auction, and rosters as revolving doors dictated by whoever pays the most. The NCAA didn’t just lose control — it handed the keys away by failing to modernize quickly enough. Now, it reacts to court decisions and public pressure while the sport accelerates toward chaos.
Nnaji’s case underscores the new normal. Draft status, overseas contracts, G-League stints — all negotiable. The only real boundary left seems to be actually stepping onto an NBA court. Everything else is up for discussion.
The Hidden Cost for Kentucky and Other Programs
The biggest risk of this shift isn’t roster chaos. It’s the ripple effect hitting non-revenue sports. While football and men’s basketball dominate headlines and funding, programs like Kentucky volleyball, gymnastics, track and field, and others quietly flourish — producing national champions and future Olympians.
As NIL demands grow, legal costs mount, and revenue sharing becomes inevitable, budgets tighten. Athletic departments rarely slash football or basketball. They cut the swimming teams, track squads, and other Olympic pipelines.
The nightmare scenario? The most visible sports get wealthier, the NCAA celebrates “growth,” and the sports that feed Team USA pipelines are squeezed out — all because the money went to a backup quarterback or a basketball signing bonus. It’s not a question of if, just when.
The Inevitable Endgame
Once you admit the obvious — these athletes are essentially employees — the path forward becomes clear: collective bargaining. Courts are already leaning that way. The NCAA will be forced to implement contracts, standardized benefits, and injury protections — the same structures professional leagues use.
The organization doesn’t want to admit it because it loses control. But Nnaji’s arrival proves that power is already gone. Amateurism is a relic; college sports are professional now. The sooner we accept it and start regulating accordingly, the better.
You might not like it. We might not either. But it’s reality. And pretending otherwise won’t make it disappear.
