Former UCLA standout Amari Bailey said he is trying to become the first basketball player to return to college after playing in NBA games.
Bailey, 21, hired an agent and attorney to prepare to fight for NCAA eligibility in hopes of joining a college team and playing one more season.
He said he began seriously exploring a return to college in 2025, but has wondered if there was a path back to the NCAA since the day he was drafted in 2023. He said he made some mistakes as an 18-year-old freshman and left UCLA with “a lot to prove on the table.”
“Right now I would be a senior in college,” Bailey told ESPN. “I'm not trying to be 27 years old playing college athletics. There's no shade for the guys who do it; that's their journey. But I went to play professionally and I learned a lot, I went through a lot. So why not me?”
The 6-foot-3 guard played one season at UCLA in 2022-23 before entering the 2023 NBA draft, where he was selected by the Charlotte Hornets in the second round. He played in 10 games for the Hornets during his rookie season on a two-way contract and spent two years in the G League before being released over the summer.
Their effort will be another substantial legal test of the NCAA's ability to enforce the rules that decide who can play college sports during an era in which waivers and lawsuits have steadily eroded the ban on professional players joining NCAA rosters.
NCAA President Charlie Baker said in December that the association would not grant eligibility to any player who has signed a contract with the NBA. However, Alabama forward Charles Bediako, who also played in the G League on a two-way NBA contract, tested NCAA rules in state court and won a court order allowing him to play for the Crimson Tide in recent games.
“The NCAA has not and will not grant eligibility to any player who has signed a contract with the NBA,” NCAA senior vice president of external affairs Tim Buckley said when asked about Bailey's plan to return. “Congress can strengthen NCAA rules so that professional athletes cannot sue to compete against college students again.”
Bediako argued in court papers that the NCAA has been “selective and inconsistent” in enforcing its eligibility rules. His attorneys cited a recent decision by the NCAA to allow James Nnaji, a 2023 NBA draft pick who played professionally in Europe rather than sign with an NBA team, to suit up for Baylor.
Bailey was selected 10 picks after Nnaji in the same draft and signed the same type of contract as Bediako. Bailey told ESPN that playing a few minutes in a small number of NBA games at the end of his rookie season is not a good reason to treat him any differently than those players.
“You have a college-aged kid who wants to go to college and you have a system that says, 'Too bad, you've gone to a different league, so you're out forever,'” said Elliot Abrams, Bailey's attorney. “I don't see any real justification for it.”
Abrams helped former North Carolina football player Tez Walker restore his NCAA eligibility in a pivotal decision for 2023 and said he has since worked with many other college athletes to help navigate the waiver process. NCAA rules allow athletes to play four full seasons over a five-year period that begins when they first enroll in college. Bailey would have one year left in that five-year window for the 2026-27 season.
The NCAA, which is fighting to overturn Bediako's court decision, prohibits anyone who has signed a professional contract from playing college sports unless the money they earn from their professional team covers only “real and necessary expenses,” such as food, rent, medical care and training costs associated with playing their sport.
“It's not a trick. I'm really serious about coming back. I just want to improve my game, change the perception of myself and prove that I can win.”
Amari Bailey
NCAA members adopted the “actual and necessary expenses” exception in 2010 as schools increasingly began recruiting players from abroad. The new rule required the NCAA to handle players on a case-by-case basis, and schools have steadily pushed the limits of the exemption, from teenage players in the European League to older, higher-paid players in those leagues and then to the G League. The problem has become more pronounced in recent years as schools began paying players directly and the money athletes can earn in the NCAA has begun to exceed what they can earn in professional leagues.
Initially, the association changed the rules to adapt to a European system that places young players earning just enough to cover their living expenses alongside highly paid professionals within the same club.
Baker said in a statement earlier this month that these lawsuits ultimately take away opportunities for high school players, and veteran coaches have strongly objected to the lack of a clear standard for fear it will lead to an unfettered two-way street between the NBA and college.
“A judge ordering the NCAA to allow a former NBA player to appear Saturday against real college student-athletes is exactly why Congress must step in and empower college sports to enforce our eligibility rules,” Baker said shortly after Bediako was granted the opportunity to play for Alabama.
Bailey said he believes most college basketball prospects want to compete for spots with the best players in their age group, regardless of where they have played in the past. He also said he thinks the five-year limit is fair, but that perhaps it would be more realistic to ban players who signed a full NBA contract or first-round picks.
Bailey's only professional contract was worth $565,000, he said. He maintains that many starters on high-level college teams are making similar amounts of money, if not more.
He said he has been training twice a day at his home in Southern California and plans to start talking to schools in the near future about joining their roster for next season. He said he doesn't have a specific team in mind, but is looking for a place where he can show he can be a leader, run an offense as a point guard and lead a team to the Final Four.
“It's not a trick,” Bailey said. “I'm very serious about coming back. I just want to improve my game, change the perception of myself and just show that I can win.”
His new team would have to ask the NCAA for a waiver to allow him to play. If the NCAA denies the waiver request, Bailey and his attorney could file a lawsuit in state or federal court to challenge the decision.
Bailey, who appeared on a reality show about basketball moms in her teens before moving to Los Angeles to play on the same high school team as Bronny James and other future NBA players, said she wasn't worried about the criticism she might receive for her push to return to school.
“I feel like I've dealt with a lot and this wouldn't be any different,” he said.
