I thought you meant the NBA didn’t have to bargain with the nbpa.
The draft won’t go away because 1) the players were dumb enough to give it, and the genie is out of the bottle, and 2) fans are dumb enough to believe the owners when they claim it’s for “competitive balance.”
No my point was that the NBPA has zero leverage to force the NCAA to agree to anything. But the NBA can try to discuss options with the NCAA to get them to institute rules that will be mutually beneficial, that the NBPA can't do anything about.
The draft is its own discussion. Eliminating doesn't do anything to help competitive balance either. Players are already working together to establish "super teams" as free agents. If the draft was removed from the equation, then teams like Milwaukee wouldn't have the talent they do now. And while the Sixers tanked for years, and were hit hard by the injury bug in the "process", they have built an exciting young team that should challenge for the Eastern conference title within a few years (assuming they keep their nucleus together).
I think the solution should be similar to baseball. Player can/should be drafted out of HS. He can consult with the team as to whether they want him now, or in college (instead of "stashing them overseas for a few years"). If he chooses college, they retain his rights for 3 years. He can come out at any time within those three seasons.
How much better would it have been for UConn and/or Hamilton and Daniels had they been able to return to college after the draft? Hamilton might not have, but I feel Daniels probably would have been better served with another season at UConn instead of going to Australia (though admittedly injuries have been his main issue).
In order to encourage taking school seriously, they could add a player option. If the player graduates within 4 years, he has the option of a guaranteed contract with the team that signed him (D league or better), or signing with any team as a free agent. If the team doesn't want to lose the player they will encourage him to leave school early and sign a contract before that option is exercised. If the player doesn't want to sign with that team, he will have honored the academic side of his contract with the university, and is rewarded with the potential for additional options.
This is all off the top of my head, and it may not be feasible. There also might be unintended consequences that I haven't thought of, it's just an idea for the sake of discussion.