The NIL era has completely rewritten the script in college basketball. What used to be a one-way street to the pros now has traffic coming back the other way. T.J. Clark left the Texas Legends to commit to Ole Miss. BYU brought in center Abdullah Ahmed. Louisville landed London Johnson. Santa Clara added Thierry Darlan.

But when James Nnaji, the No. 31 pick in the 2023 draft, made that call, it left the entire college hoops community stunned.

In many ways, Nnaji’s situation feels like a page ripped straight out of basketball history. Back in 1978, the Celtics drafted Larry Bird, but he went back to play his senior year at Indiana State before finally heading to the NBA. That rare move led to the creation of the Bird Collegiate Rule, designed to prevent situations like this from popping up again.

The NCAA has granted Nnaji four years of eligibility, and the 21-year-old has committed to Baylor, with hopes he’ll be ready for the Bears’ Big 12 opener on Jan. 3 at TCU.

Nnaji was drafted by the Detroit Pistons and quickly traded to the Charlotte Hornets. In 2024, his rights were then moved to the New York Knicks as part of the Karl-Anthony Towns deal. But through all of that, he never played a single game in the NBA or the G League, which is what allowed him to become eligible to suit up for Baylor.

But what if we told you this has already happened in women’s college basketball this year?

As reporter Talia Goodman pointed out on X, Kansas State landed Nastja Claessens from Belgium, even after she was taken with the No. 30 pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft.

So how was Claessens able to return? Simple. She never signed with the Mystics or practiced with the team, which allowed her to keep her NCAA eligibility. But this isn’t exactly the same as James Nnaji’s case. Nnaji’s rights have already been traded twice between NBA teams, and he’s even appeared for the Knicks in Summer League.

The collective bargaining agreement that the WNBA and its players agreed to in 2020 offers clarity on this situation. It states that if a player doesn’t sign with the team that drafted her and later returns to college, that team will retain her WNBA rights for up to a year after she exhausts her NCAA eligibility, as reported by SB Nation.

This could also raise another question in your mind. How was Claessens draft-eligible? The WNBA has different draft rules for international prospects. Under league rules, players from outside the U.S. are eligible for the draft in the year they turn 20, which is how Claessens could be drafted before ever playing college basketball.

Claessens has been a bright spot for Kansas State this season, putting up 10.6 points and 4.3 rebounds a game while starting 10 of their first 11 contests. The Wildcats sit at 7–7 overall and 0–1 in Big 12 play, hardly the start they envisioned. But even as the team searches for momentum, Claessens keeps delivering and shows no signs of slowing down.

While Claessens continues to shine away from the WNBA spotlight, James Nnaji has also carved out an eventful pro journey of his own, even without ever stepping onto an NBA floor.

Tracking James Nnaji’s Professional Journey and Why Baylor Wants Him

Since being drafted, Nnaji has spent most of his time playing overseas, including a season with Girona in Spain in 2024–25. He also had a short stint with Merkezefendi before the two sides parted ways in July.

On the NBA side, he’s appeared in Summer League games, as mentioned above, playing five games for the Knicks in 2025, where he averaged 3.2 points and 3.6 rebounds, and six games for the Hornets’ Summer League team right after he was drafted.

So why is Baylor so keen on bringing Nnaji in? Defense. The Bears are 9–2 and sit at No. 6 in the country in offensive efficiency on KenPom, but defensively, they’re way down at No. 106. They simply don’t have size in the paint, with no one in the rotation taller than 6-foot-9.

Nnaji fixes that problem right away with his 7-foot frame and massive 7-foot-7 wingspan. And it couldn’t come at a better time. Injuries have hit Baylor hard, with forward Maikcol Perez and center Juslin Bodo Bodo sidelined for the entire season so far. The Bears will be hoping Nnaji can step in and give them the boost they desperately need.

Baylor’s only losses so far have come against St. John’s and Memphis, and with Big 12 play beginning in the new year, the Bears have just made a major midseason addition to gear up for the grind ahead.

Do you agree with the NCAA letting pro players make their way back to college hoops? Is it good for the game, or a slippery slope? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!