Once someone turns 18 they should be allowed to get a job. No question. Doesn't mean the NBA is required to hire them. They should be able to set their own internal parameters for hiring whomever they want. If they want to require a college degree, they should be able to. The kids can join another pro league if they want, or do something else if college isn't for them. Ultimately the league will do whatever is in the league's own best interest. Their internal competition with each other over the last generation has led them to start taking younger and younger kids just to stay level with each other. The quality of play got to be so bad after a decade of this, around 2000-2004, that it became common for NBA scores to have dipped into the 70s and 60s routinely. They came up with the one and done idea which didn't do much except make a joke of college basketball.
The best system is to have a developmental or minor league onto which a team can stash a couple players, and have it be a developmental eight team league or something like that, through which players can progress if they are able. If someone is really not a college candidate for academic or financial reasons, they can come out of high school and try out for the minor league. If someone is more a traditional collegiate student athlete, they can sign into college and play there for at least three years. They get an education, and to learn the game as well and showcase their skills, at no charge to them. It will also monumentally improve the collegiate game, make it so college coaches don't have to recruit an entirely new team every year and try to brazenly outbid each other for one year talent. If a player wants to come out after high school and is good enough, he can. If he wants to come out but isn't good enough, he has an option. If someone is a college player, the world is their oyster too. The NBA gets all the good players in the end anyway, and the NCAA doesn't have clowns pretending to be students.
