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Wednesday, July 20, 2005
NBA Players That Get In Trouble With the Law: Do Age and Education Level Matter? Among the claims often expressed for raising the age floor in the NBA is that prep-to-pros players are more likely to get in off-court trouble, since they lack a college education and, as David Stern puts it, "life experience." One way to test this idea is to study NBA players that have actually gotten in trouble with the law. Were they college educated? Were they young and impressionable? I did a little bit of research, and while I cannot ensure that the following chart reflects a complete list, it is quite extensive and likely covers most of the recent NBA player arrests. The chart reveals the arrested players’ level of education and their age and level of professional experience at the time of arrest. Disclaimer: obviously, an arrest does not mean that someone is guilty of anything; that’s what a trial is for. But, it might a good proxy for “getting in trouble with the law,” particularly given the reputational cost often absorbed by an arrested player, his team, and the NBA. Arrested NBA Players: Education, Age, and Experience Michael McCann Assistant Professor of Law, Mississippi College School of Law LL.M., Harvard Law School (2005) J.D., University of Virginia School of Law (2002) B.A., Georgetown University (1998)
Update 8/9/05 Update 7/28/05 Update 7/25/05 ^ Woods played two years of junior college plus one year of community college
Also, several of the players were arrested after their careers had ended, and that is noted by “was retired.” I used the last year in which they played as the numerical base. One could make a good argument that they should not be included, although I felt that their arrests still reflected poorly on them, their NBA teams, and the NBA itself (e.g., the Jayson Williams murder trial), and thus deserved to be included. What does this data tell us? On the other hand, the lack correlative power of education might only reflect intervening causes (such as personal and professional relationships) that can obscure the lessons one learned in school (or at home or with friends etc.). In that respect, I found some of the media coverage of the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case especially baffling. Here was a player who was considered the NBA's poster child for most of his first seven seasons, during which time he was routinely praised for his charity work with the Los Angeles Girls and Boys' Club, and then, at age 24, we are supposed to believe that he suddenly became a rapist because he didn't go to college seven years earlier? I look forward to further analyzing this data with all of you. Your insight and interpretation would be much appreciated, and please use the comments section below. Or, if you have any additions/corrections to the list, please e-mail me (along with some type of substantiation for your claim) at mmccann@law.harvard.edu – I would appreciate it. I am grateful to all who have e-mailed me, as well as to those who have commented below or who have written about this study on their websites and blogs. Along those lines, thanks to Henry Abbot of True Hoop for his discussion. I especially liked his title, "The List David Stern Never Wants You to See." Thanks also to following for their discussion of the study: Jeffrey Lewis of The Southern California Law Blog, Jeffrey Wojciechowski of Beaneball, Ken Lammers of Criminal Law Blog, Mike of Crime and Federalism, Scott Townsend of H-Town Sports, Kevin of Hoop Log, and Cisco of Filsteu. Also, Professor Todd Zywicki of George Mason University School of Law and The Volokh Conspiracy has a must-read take on this study, as he predicts that "raising the draft age by one year will likely just increase the corruption in high school and college basketball." Definitely check out his post, as it reflects upon this data in a completely different way: the unintended consequences on amateur basketball. The Sports Prof ("Rap Sheets and the Rap Generation") and Cal Lanier of Football Fans for Truth ("Fools Rule") also check in with excellent responses.
Additional Resources For further discussion of this study's relevance to the NBA's efforts to raise the age floor, see my 5/23/05 post "More on NBA Player Arrests and Age/Education." For a broader discussion of age and the NBA Draft, see my law review article "Illegal Defense: The Irrational Economics of Banning High School Players from the NBA Draft," 3 27 Comments:
I believe that your data set is small, but I agree that any way you slice it, age doesn't appear to have much relation to "getting into trouble" for an NBA player. It would be interesting to collect some other parameters such as in season vs off season, or playing status (injured, etc.) or even contract status, to see if there is a particularly vulnerable time for getting into trouble.
Just out of curiousity--if you did a similar list of NFL players, would O.J. Simpson's murder case list him as a player or as a member of the media? He had worked for a number of years with NBC Sports [on the NFL and Olympics] prior to the double murders, and been out of the NFL for about 13 years at the time.
Very interesting findings Professor McCann. Your last update is especially interesting, because the comparative data between arrested NBA players and all NBA players greatly discredits the NBA's paternalistic argument for an age floor. As a fellow Harvard Law grad, I'm happy to see this kind of scholarship from our alma mater.
There are other factors that should be taken in consideration here, perhaps. The environment the players grew up in, for one. Kobe might end up standing out in this list not because he skipped college, but because he was raised in a well-to-do family in a list of people who had rough beginnings (note that I'm taking a guess here, I don't know enough about all the background of all the players listed).
Zach Randolph's arrest was not a DUI. It was for underage drinking for drinking a beer 2 weeks before his 21st birthday.
Laurel: Thanks for your response. However, according to a December 2, 2003 story entitled "Blazers' Randolph Arrested for Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants" on the Portland Oregonian's website, Zach Randolph was indeed arrested for DUI. Here is the link:
Most of HS-only sample has probably not yet reached their 6th season in the league. They simply haven't had as much time as the rest of the league to get arrested.
I find this study very interesting. I run a fantasy sports web site ( www.fantasycriminal.com )that awards points when a member of your team gets arrested. I have over three years of NBA busts in my database. All the busts have a link to a legitimate news story ( that is one of the rules ). We have over 3000 busts so far. I may be able to help you with some of your research ...
Incredibly fascinating read, and outstanding research. And not good news for David Stern!
the data looks great and all, and I must first say that you have a valid point. But, what percentage of the NBA went to school for 4, 3, 2, 1, or 0 years would help analyze the data better. I am not calling your claim incorrect, but I am saying that this is not enough data.
Brett,
Is there a similiar list of NFL players?
What is the time frame used for the data? It would be difficult to confirm if a 'recent' arrest was missed without at least a start date. Also, several people seemed interested incomparing this list to other sports. The number of arrests sport to sport can't be compared without knowing if this covers five years, ten years, etc.
Very interesting stuff. However, I ran over the data and found that the average age of (first) arrest for players completing less than 4 years of college was about 25 years old while the average age for those completing 4 years was about 30 years old. So the players not completing college get into trouble a little earlier than those who do complete college. These stats are obviously kind of biased becuase leaving college early (or not going at all) is a rather new trend, so guys like Kobe and Jason Richardson haven't had a chance to reach 35 to get arrested just yet.
this i bull shit, 50% of nba players chief. "smoke weed"
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The league has probably decided that, statistically speaking, gambling on HS players in the draft does not pay off frequently enough to justify the increased costs required to market and develop them. This would be a perfectly reasonable business justification to change the CBA.
I think a one game suspension of Horry would have been tolerable. But you cannot seriously believe that suspending Diaw and Amare is how it should have gone down. Get real. Since when do we follow the letter of the law over the intent? Cops give warnings for traffic violations. Judges consider intent not just the letter of the law for punishment. Why can’t the league think? Stern wants to tell players what they can or cannot wear and say and acts like a contemporary slave master ruling over his “boys”. It has to stop!
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your little stats was interesting, but I hope yourself or your readers dont equate years in college with actual education or intelligence. I attended 3 collegs while getting my degrees and also taught at 2 colleges. For the record black basketball players in 3 New York colleges never attended classes period and instructors were told to give these absent students passing grades! No shit
Mike,
Holy crap! Why is Eric Gordon (the previous poster) opposed to players leaving school early when he went seventh in the NBA draft last June? He needs to practice what he preaches.
One stat is missing, how many of these players are black
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