NBA, Money, College Basketball, and Brandon Jennings

High school basketball star Brandon Jennings is about to revolutionize college basketball/NBA like Kevin Garnett did in 1995.

Back in 1995, Kevin Garnett went straight from high school into the NBA. Before that, it was understood that star basketball players out of high school would go to college, and then get drafted into the NBA.

For the top players, however, the colleges benefited more from their talent then they did. Sure, the players received scholarships - which is good if they want an education. But, they can't work campus jobs for extra money, they can't sign with an agent, or get sponsorships. Meanwhile, the colleges can get money from ticket sales, merchandise sales, sponsors like Nike, etc.

After Garnett, a lot of the top players skipped high school and went into the NBA. The college game suffered from lack of top talent.

Then, 2 years ago, during contract negotiations, the NBA commissioner made the Player's Union accept a provision that requires draft choices to be at least 19 and one year away from high school.

This forced the players to work for free in college - for at least a year.

Now, Brandon Jennings (this year's top high school point guard) had poor SAT scores and no desire to go to college. Instead, he and his family hired an attorney and agent, and he signed with an Italian team in the European Basketball league.

Now, instead of playing for free at a college - and going through the motions of being a "scholar/athlete" - he is doing an apprenticeship with an actual pro team, and getting paid $1 million in salary, plus a shoe endorsement from UnderArmour for a lot more.

His contract with the Italian team is three years - but he has a clause that he can leave after year 1 or 2 to sign with the NBA.

The other interesting thing about Jennings is that he signed up to endorse the fledgling shoe division of Under Armour - instead of Nike or Addidas.

He is being advised by Sonny Vaccaro, the same agent who negotiated Michael Jordan's relationship with Nike. At that time, Addidas was the big shoe company but Vacarro convinced Jordan that he would ultimately get rewarded well as Nike built its shoe division around him.

Now, Vaccaro is trying to do the same with Jennings and Under Armour.