Kevin Durant announced yesterday that he's going to be playing basketball for truckloads of money next year instead of playing basketball for free. This seems like a reasonable choice for a human being to make, and yet there seems to be some debate among fans and commentators alike over whether or not this is the correct choice. His choice will be dissected and discussed. His college will be looked down upon by some who will check the graduation rate, which Kevin Durant just adversely affected, and shake their heads about how players used to stay for four years and get educated and what's wrong with the damn kids these days and why won't they stay off of my lawn.

I think it's absurd that anybody would argue that he should stay in school, and continue to play basketball for free. I guess their argument, then, must be that "one attends college in order to graduate," rather than "one attends college in order to get ahead in life." I rather think theformerlatter. College is the means to an end, ultimately; if one possesses this certain degree, one's knowledge and earning potential will be higher. Kevin Durant's earning potential can only suffer if he stays in school. There is the probabality of injury, and there's only one direction in which is draft status can move: down. He would be a fool to stay in college, if somebody is willing to pay him in checks with a digit followed by seven zeroes to come finish his education in another U.S. city.

A common argument against this is, Kevin Durant should stay in school a year to improve his game, get bigger, get better. This should not be his responsibility. His game is what it is. If he presents himself honestly, and a professional organization selects him as an employee, that responsibility is ENTIRELY the organization's. If an accounting firm hires an undergraduate accounting student, and then bitches that he doesn't understand all the accounting rules, that's not really the new hire's fault, right? Scout better. Don't hire undergraduates. But when that kid's running the competition, know whom to blame.

It's why I'm completely against the NBA age limit. Owners and General Managers keep shouting that "drafting high school players is ruining the game!" Hey, dipshits, guess who's in charge of drafting? That would be you. If you don't want to draft an unproven player, and I know this is novel, don't draft him. If you think Kevin Durant should have stayed in school another year in order to "get better," then take a pass. The next team on the board will thank you. And if your response is "but he's got too much potential to pass up!" then shut the fuck up, draft him, and deal with the ramifications of your own decision. It shouldn't be the league's responsibility to stop you from making dumbass business decisions.

Kevin Durant may be a great professional player, and he may be a rather ordinary one. Great college success does not always lead to professional success. But the only reasonable choice for him to make is the one that nets him millions upon millions of dollars, rather than the one that bestows upon him a piece of paper with the words "University of Texas B.A." on it.

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