21-year-old law student Jordan Haber is eligible for Thursday’s NBA Draft but he didn’t play basketball in college, high school or even middle school.
Haber has been documenting his journey on TikTok and YouTube and found a loophole in the NBA’s bargaining agreement that allowed him to meet draft eligibility criteria, so he entered.
“I made a bet with my friends and I made it to the NBA Draft,” Haber said in a May TikTok with more than 3.2 million views. “I am now Jordan Haber, member of the 2023 NBA draft class, uh, soon to be undrafted class.”
He simply emailed the NBA with all of the required documents and discovered he was eligible.
“There’s just a bunch of small little things that I ended up meeting,” Haber said. “And I sent over an email to the NBA and they got back to me and sent over paperwork right away.”
A list of everyone’s name who is in the draft is sent to the 30 teams. Most of these names are legit basketball players, so Haber didn’t make that list.
The incoming student at Cardozo School of Law in New York is on another list titled ‘unknown individuals’.
In the weeks since going viral, Haber has received attention from the Nets, Raptors, Pistons and even the NFL’s Philly Eagles.
The Florida native will attend the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Thursday and literally take part in the draft. Wild.
The die-hard Miami Heat fan doesn’t expect to get drafted but his friends want to see him shake NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s hand.
While his TikTok fans want him to meet draft prospects like Scoot Henderson and Victor Wembanyama.
“I think everyone has a dream to be a professional athlete when they’re younger,” Haber told the Forward. “And I think it’s pretty cool that like the average person just kind of found their way and with no ill intent, kind of just having fun.”
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