<P> The NBA high school draftees are players who have been drafted to the National Basketball Association (NBA) straight out of high school without playing basketball at the collegiate level . The process of jumping directly from high school to the professional level is also known as going prep - to - pro . Since 2006, the practice of drafting high school players has been prohibited by the new collective bargaining agreement, which requires that players who entered the draft be 19 years of age and at least one year removed from high school . Contrary to popular belief, the player does not have to play at least a year in college basketball, as the player can choose to instead play in another professional league (especially overseas) like Brandon Jennings or Emmanuel Mudiay in Italy and China respectively, simply take the year off, such as the case with Satnam Singh Bhamara, or even hold themselves back a year in high school before declaring for the draft, such as the case with Thon Maker . </P> <P> The NBA has long had a preference for players who played basketball at the collegiate level; the vast majority of players to play in the NBA have had college experience . However, there have been numerous notable players who attended high school in the United States and then jumped directly to the NBA without playing college basketball . </P>

When did the nba ban high school players