The Negative Effect of AAU Basketball
As I sit here and watch this incredible Sugar Bowl between Ole Miss and Georgia, I wanted to write down some thoughts relating to AAU Basketball. It will be unpolished and will require a longer, more thought-out speech where I can fully express my feelings on the matter. However, for now, I want to briefly discuss the harm AAU Basketball has caused to the NBA.
Injuries
Most basketball players, whether future NBA prospects or regular high school basketball players, start AAU during their middle school years. If you're someone trying to reach or are in the NBA, then AAU will not have done you all that good as far as your body goes.
Today, basketball from the AAU to the pro level is played at an incredibly fast pace, and in the NBA, the game is the fastest it has ever been. Players are forced to make hard cuts; herky-jerky movements that will, over time, wear down ligaments and the body. It’s the main reason why you see so many injuries in the NBA, especially amongst young players (ex., Tyrese Haliburton and Jayson Tatum).
Haliburton is 25 years old, and Tatum is 27, and both players suffered injuries that are often seen in older NBA players (around the age of 35 and onwards). Jayson Tatum ruptured his Achilles tendon, meaning the tendon was completely severed. Haliburton suffered the same injury. Both of these NBA All-Stars dominated the AAU levels during their high-school careers, and now I would say that they are paying the price for that. Haliburton likely started playing AAU from the age of 13 and on, which means that he played seven years of high school, AAU, and college basketball before ever stepping on an NBA court. At the age of 20, that already is a ton of wear and tear, and yet Haliburton still played 5 years before rupturing his Achilles last June.
Tatum and Haliburton are not the only young NBA stars to deal with nagging injuries at such young stages of their career. I could (but I won’t) name about 25 players who we have seen sidelined for large periods of time due to nagging injuries that they have sustained from severe wear and tear, largely because they have been playing year-round basketball since the ages of 12 and on.
Media Coverage
This portion is trickier to dive into because there is so much that you can bring up that could relate to this part. AAU mixtapes of high school basketball players often gain millions of views across social media. This can lead to a couple of results/problems that I believe affect the NBA.
An unpolished list:
Poor personalities
Too much fame/hype
Over-inflation of hype and poor scouting
Unfair judgment of players
I’m not gonna speak on bullet point 1 as I think it deserves a spoken conversation. However, as for bullet point 2, I’d say the AAU mixtapes that are produced, which showcase basketball players from the ages of 12-18, harm the players they are meant to promote.
Example: Mikey Williams
Mikey Williams was a star high school basketball and AAU player around the age of 16. He had mixtapes, a reality show, and what seemed like the highlights to prove a case that he was a damn good basketball player. However, it turns out Williams wasn’t nearly as good compared to the recruiting class he was in and how his mixtapes made people view him. Many fans, including my young 15-year-old self, were caught off guard when Williams’s scouting rank had him notched at 60th in his recruiting class. This surprised many because the hype that had been generated from his mixtapes made Williams seem like a top-five player in the nation, when in reality, he barely scratched the surface of the top 60. People quickly forgot about Williams when they realized he wasn’t as good as his mixtapes indicated, and the bulk of basketball fans moved on to the prospects who were highly ranked.
Now, Williams is one example that stands out from AAU mixtapes producing too much hype, but there are others like him.
The Unpolished Summary
Like I said at the beginning of this piece, this article is unpolished and deserves a longer, thought-out conversation. There is much more that could be discussed. The bottom line is wear and tear injuries and media coverage.
These are just two big reasons why I think AAU has done harm to the National Basketball Association and young basketball players.
