Why not go back to school with NBA players like Chris Paul at Wake Forest or Kevin Durant at Texas or Russell Westbrook at UCLA or Jeff Green at Georgetown? It looks like many NBA have traded in their gym bags for backpacks.

There has recently been a classroom migration of NBA players. In 2006, the National Basketball Association implemented a league rule change that mandates that players must be at least one year removed from high school and at least nineteen years old to be considered for the draft. The rule stopped young players from entering the league directly from high school. However, the rule may have had an unexpected consequence – many players are attempting to go back to college and finish what they started.

With a shaky retirement in their future, many NBA players are seeking a more secure life plan. The average annual salary for an NBA player is $5.85 million. Sports Illustrated reported that an estimated 60 percent of players are broke within the first five years of retiring and 78 percent of NFL players are bankrupt or under financial stress because of joblessness or divorce within two years. The magazine also reported that many baseball players struggle financially after retirement. For this reason many professional league players are looking to college as a backup plan. Even for the elite athletes, who generate seven-figure annual salaries, returning to college is an investment and a safety net against an uncertain future.

The best basketball players typically leave college at the peak of their careers which oftentimes comes before graduation. About 21 percent of the current NBA players have undergraduate degrees. However, all players who enter the league prior to graduation sign a contract that promises that they will continue their education. While in the past most players didn’t take it serious, this is now changing.

This year 45 NBA players – 10 percent of the league – went back to school during the preseason. The Thunder and the Golden State Warriors each had three players that were enrolled in summer classes. The players also see going back to school as a way to be great role models to young kids. Westbrook who entered the league during his sophomore year at UCLA states, “I have a younger brother, and it sets an example for him and how important it is.”

The downside to the players going back to school is their commitment and passion to the game put into question. Vince Carter, who left UNC in 1998, kept working toward his degree in African-American studies. In 2001, while with the Toronto Raptors he had to juggle preparations for the playoff games with his preparations for his own college graduation. Carter went directly to a playoff game with the Philly 76ers after his graduation ceremony. After missing the final shot which lost the game and eliminated his team from the finals, fans and the media questioned his priorities. Carter made this statement in return, “People who criticize me for that have something to think about, I think, because that’s an important time in anybody’s life. There’s not one person who would sit there and say that they would miss their graduation for nothing.”