The age of professional athletes seems to be getting younger and younger each year. A lot of athletes are drafted straight out of high school or after attending college for only one or two years. The age of professional athletes is starting to get ridiculous because athletes my age are signing contracts for seven or eight digits each year, along with a large signing bonus and other incintives. There is no need for them to rush into a big contract, because they"re obviously good enough athletes and in four years will sign a professional contract. As Smith says, "The young men who cashed in their books in the draft are not starry-eyed wanna-bes; they are highly talented players who will surely earn millions anyway when they get to the pros. So why rush?"(16) High-school athletes should be required to go to college, receive a degree, and then they should be able to be drafted.
High school and college athletes are becoming greedier each year. More and more high school athletes want to sign a professional contract straight out of high school just so they can say they are making millions. In 1997, Kobe Bryant, an NBA Star, signed straight out of high school. The amazing thing was is the Los Angeles Lakers offered him a contract for six years, where he would make around 60 million dollars and he held out because he wanted more money. In the 2000 NBA Draft, Darius Miles signed a multi-million dollar contract with the Los Angeles Clippers. These days money is becoming so important to everyone that athletes are trying to make the big bucks as soon as possible just so they can brag about it to friends and have nice things. The athletes are not looking at the future, they are just trying to do what is the easiest. .
The problem with athletes signing professional contracts before getting a degree is if they get injured while playing, they have nothing to fall back on. For instance, if a rookie tears his ACL while playing in a game or at practice, it could be such a bad injury that he may not ever be able to play his sport again.
