As former college stars continue pushing boundaries to try to return to the NCAA, Amari Bailey is taking his case one step further.
The 21-year-old wants to go back to school and play college basketball — despite having already seen the NBA court, ESPN reported Friday. He told the outlet he’s hired an agent and a lawyer to gain college eligibility.
“Right now I’d be a senior in college,” Bailey told the outlet. “I’m not trying to be 27 years old playing college athletics. No shade to the guys that do; that’s their journey. But I went to go play professionally and learned a lot, went through a lot. So, like, why not me?”
However, it’s also highly unlikely this will be allowed to happen, according to Tim Buckley, the Senior Vice President of External Affairs for the NCAA. He said on X in the wake of the report that the NCAA “has not and will not grant eligibility to any players who have signed an NBA contract.”
Bailey, who played at UCLA in the 2022-23 season, was selected with the No. 41 overall pick by the Hornets in the 2023 NBA Draft.
The 6-foot-3 guard signed a two-way contract with Charlotte, meaning he was allowed to move back and forth between the NBA and the Greensboro Swarm of the G League.
A two-way deal offers players a limited number of days in the NBA before a team has to decide whether to convert them to a standard contract or waive them altogether.
Bailey did play 10 games with the Hornets that season, logging 65 total minutes and averaging 2.3 points, though he was never converted to a standard NBA contract and remained on a two-way deal.
Nonetheless, he played NBA basketball.
James Nnaji, the No. 31 overall pick in the 2023 draft by the Pistons and later moved to Charlotte, was able join Baylor’s basketball program earlier this season and is currently playing games in college.
Nnaji was an overseas prospect and remained with Spanish club FC Barcelona before and after being selected, later joining Girona — also in Spain — and Merkezefendi of Turkey.
Nnaji’s rights were traded to the Knicks in 2024 as part of the Karl-Anthony Towns trade, and he played for New York in the 2025 summer league, as he did with the Hornets in 2023, but he never technically played an NBA or even G League game.
Nnaji is averaging 1.4 points and 3.3 rebounds in 11.6 minutes per game across seven appearances since joining Baylor.
Charles Bediako, who played for Alabama in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, is back with the team for the 2025-26 campaign after previously leaving early to pursue the NBA.
Bediako joined the Spurs for the summer league in 2023 and later signed a two-way contract with the team, but was waived that December following a meniscus tear.
From 2023 through the 2025-26 season, Bediako played in 46 G League games before being allowed to return to Alabama, where he has played two games.
Bailey, a former UCLA and Sierra Canyon star, played alongside other notable high school athletes, like Bronny James — son of LeBron James — Zaire Wade — son of Dwyane Wade — and current Nets forward Zaire Williams.
Bailey averaged 11.2 points per game at UCLA in his lone season with the team in 2022-23.
He later played in the G League for 34 games across the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons.