A judge in Alabama has granted a temporary restraining order allowing Charles Bediako, a former University of Alabama basketball player who signed a two-way contract with the NBA‘s San Antonio Spurs in 2023, to return to the Crimson Tide.
The order issued by Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court Judge James H. Roberts will last 10 days until there are further proceedings. Alabama, ranked No. 17 in this week’s AP poll, hosts Tennessee on Saturday ahead of a scheduled Tuesday hearing to discuss Bediako’s request for a preliminary injunction.
“We are very pleased with the order that was entered and look forward to the upcoming injunction hearing,” Darren Heitner, Bediako’s attorney, told Sportico.
Bediako, a 7-foot center who earned a spot on the SEC All-Defensive Team in 2022-23, will turn 24 in March. He was not drafted when he declared for the NBA Draft in 2023, and he has not appeared in any NBA regular-season games. Bediako played in the G League for three different teams, most recently for the Motor City Cruise.
A two-way contract in the NBA allows a player to play in part for an NBA team and in part for that team’s G League affiliate. As defined in the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement, a two-way contract is one between a player and an NBA team that can be converted to a standard NBA contract.
Bediako sued the NCAA, which opposes his eligibility on grounds that he “signed three NBA contracts after competing in college for two seasons.” The NCAA says it “has not and will not grant eligibility to any prospective or returning student-athletes who have signed an NBA contract.” The NCAA’s opposition is based on its belief that “eligibility rules ensure high school students get a shot at earning scholarships, and we will continue to consistently apply and defend these rules.”
While Bediako isn’t a big-name player, the significance of a player who signed an NBA contract returning to college basketball is considerable. It could open the door to players who played in the NBA and wish to return to college hoops.
This outcome was forecasted by Sportico last year, when the NCAA permitted former G League players to return to Division I men’s basketball. Those players include current Baylor center James Nnaji, who was the 31st pick in the 2023 NBA Draft but didn’t play in the NBA.
G League players are professional athletes who are members of a professional players’ union. While NBA players are better at basketball than G League players, there isn’t necessarily a legal distinction between them: both are pro basketball players in unionized pro leagues. It is also arguably difficult, on a substantive level, to justify permitting the No. 31 pick in the NBA Draft to return to the NCAA but not one who signed a two-way contract.
Until recently, the NCAA has long opposed former pros suiting up in college. This was the hallmark of amateurism, the idea that college athletes are different from pro athletes. Amateurism also reflected business objectives; college sports were thought to be more marketable to fans, TV viewers and consumers because even though the players aren’t as good as the pros, they are students and amateurs. If college sports morphs too much into pro sports, schools and their business partners run the risk of college sports seeming more like minor league sports, which are much less marketable.
Faced with antitrust lawsuits and state NIL statutes, the NCAA has softened eligibility rules. The House settlement allows colleges to directly pay athletes a share of its revenue, which are earnings for athletes in addition to NIL deals and the economic value of athletic scholarships. The NCAA now allows former European pro basketball players to play D-I so long as their compensation is limited to what can be construed as actual and necessary expenses. Similarly, Canadian Hockey League players and former European hockey players can suit up for D-I hockey teams.
With revenue share and NIL deals, it makes sense that prominent athletes would want to play college sports for as long as possible. Consider litigation brought by Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia and other seasoned college athletes who are challenging the NCAA limiting eligibility in one sport to four seasons of intercollegiate competition—including junior college and D-II competition—within a five-year period. Some players, including Pavia, earn millions a year in college and likely more than they would earn in a professional league.
The reference to Pavia is important for another reason: former pros who wish to restart college sports are still bound by the NCAA eligibility clock. Bediako played two seasons at Alabama (2021-22 and 2022-23), so he would have two seasons left if his seasons as a pro athlete—during which he was not enrolled in a college and thus not a student-athlete—do not count toward the eligibility clock. If the NCAA interprets the clock as running while he was a pro, even though he was not a college student or a student athlete, his eligibility will expire at the end of the current basketball season—unless, of course, litigation leads to an extension of the clock.
NCAA bylaws indicate that the clock runs from when a student-athlete is first registered in a full-time program of studies, with exceptions if the player is on a religious mission or armed services. There is no explicit exception for a student-athlete who ends college to become a professional athlete and then later returns to college, though Bediako’s situation could present a question about whether his situation warrants different treatment.
In a statement shared with Sportico regarding Wednesday’s ruling, an NCAA spokesperson said that Congress “must step in and empower college sports to enforce our eligibility rules.” The spokesperson added that players who “have finished their time in college” or who “signed NBA contracts” are taking opportunities away from high school students.
