LINES THAT SHOULDN’T BE CROSSED: Charles Bediako’s return sets a dangerous precedent
A HotBasketballTake Opinion
Charles Bediako should not be allowed to play college basketball again.
Not after signing three professional contracts. Not after spending two full seasons in the G League. And certainly not through a restraining order granted by a donor judge with deep ties to Alabama athletics.
This isn’t a gray area. This is a loophole being abused in broad daylight.
Let’s be clear: the NCAA has made its stance known. Sign a two-way NBA contract, and your college eligibility is done. Period. That’s been consistent—even in the messy new world of NIL and transfer chaos. The line between pro and amateur has blurred, sure, but it hasn’t disappeared. Until now.
The Bediako situation isn’t about player rights. It’s about power.
Alabama didn’t win this battle with a waiver. They didn’t appeal. They went to court, hand-picked a judge with a six-figure donation history to the program, and forced the NCAA’s hand with a temporary restraining order.
That judge, Jim Roberts, and his wife have given between $100,000 and $249,000 to the Crimson Tide Foundation. His wife is also the attorney representing former Alabama player Darius Miles in a high-profile murder trial.
This is the judge who ruled Bediako immediately eligible.
You think any other school gets that ruling?
Florida coach Todd Golden called it what it is: “They were able to finagle the situation where they got a judge in Alabama, that is actually a donor at Alabama, to write a temporary restraining order.”
That’s not due process. That’s insider dealing.
This isn’t about fairness. It’s about setting fire to amateurism.
Bediako’s lawyers point to international players like Baylor’s James Nnaji, who joined a college program after playing professionally overseas. That comparison misses the point.
Nnaji didn’t sign a two-way NBA contract.
Bediako did—three times.
He cashed NBA checks. He wore NBA jerseys. He played in the NBA G League. Now we’re pretending he’s a college student-athlete again because a judge says so?
What message does that send to the high school kid grinding for a scholarship offer? Or the mid-major transfer hoping for a shot at a high-major roster?
Apparently, those spots are now open to ex-pros with the right legal team.
The fallout will be bigger than Bediako.
If this ruling stands, it becomes the blueprint.
Why wouldn’t more schools recruit fringe G League guys back into college—especially when NIL money can rival a two-way salary? Why bother enforcing amateurism at all if state courts can bulldoze NCAA policy whenever it's inconvenient?
The NCAA may not have much credibility left, but if it caves here, it loses the little authority it still holds.
Congress might need to step in to fix that. But in the meantime, the NCAA has every right to push back—and eventually sanction Alabama if Bediako plays and the TRO is overturned.
Because if wins earned with ineligible players aren’t vacated anymore, then amateurism is already dead. And nobody told the rest of the country.
Bottom line: this should not be allowed.
Not because Bediako’s a bad guy. Not because he doesn’t love Alabama. But because he already made the choice to go pro.
This isn’t about second chances. It’s about preserving the basic rules that make college sports different from the pros.
Letting him play opens the floodgates. And the ones who’ll suffer aren’t the programs with money or donor judges on speed dial.
It’s the kids without lawyers who still believe a scholarship offer means something.