Are Teens Too Young to Go Pro?

Bryson Warren began dribbling a basketball at age 3. By sixth grade, he was sinking three-pointers in games. And by the time he graduated middle school, college scouts were calling. 

But Bryson knew he wanted to play professionally. So in 2021, when a new professional basketball league offered him a contract, he jumped at the opportunity. 

Bryson, then 16, was recruited by Overtime Elite (OTE). The league pays top juniors and seniors to train and compete in Atlanta, Georgia, while they finish high school. Most players hope to then be drafted by the NBA.

Does that sound like the chance of a lifetime? For Bryson, it was—even though it meant leaving his home in Little Rock, Arkansas. 

“I knew in my heart it was the right thing to do,” he says. 

But starting a professional sports career at a young age comes with unique challenges—everything from burnout and stress to injury.

Is it worth it?

When you’re a professional athlete, you get paid to perform in a sport. You might also get paid to represent a brand, like Nike. 

Today, most professional sports leagues have minimum age requirements. The NFL, for example, requires athletes to have been out of high school for at least three years. To play in the NBA, players must be at least 19. Some leagues accept even younger athletes. Just last year, soccer star Olivia Moultrie became the youngest person to sign with a professional American women’s soccer team—at age 15. 

It’s easy to see why someone might decide to go pro as a teen. Athletic careers are almost always short. Very short. The average length of an NBA career is less than five years. Professional football? Three and a half. That’s partly because of the physical toll of intense training. Plus, the older we get, the harder it is for our bodies to keep up with high-level competition. 

So why not start your career as early as possible?

A short career isn’t the only reason to go pro young. Being a teen athlete can be wildly expensive. Between equipment, coaching, and traveling to competitions, families might fork over thousands of dollars. Playing on some travel soccer teams can cost up to $10,000 a year. 

Earning a salary to play, like Bryson does, offsets those costs. That helps talented players more easily afford to follow their passion. Indeed, Bryson says the income was a major factor in his decision to join OTE.

Still, getting paid to play as a teen means making sacrifices. Most of the time, to be eligible to play in college, you can’t already be a professional. Moultrie had to forfeit her chance of competing in college—and the scholarship she was offered when she was just 13. Bryson had to give up the chance at a college athletic scholarship as well. 

But college is expensive. In the U.S., it costs more to attend a public university than almost anywhere else in the world. To earn a degree, many students end up taking out huge loans that can take years to pay off. 

If an athlete’s sports career is cut short and they must find a totally different career, might they regret missing out on a free college education?

Giving up college scholarships is just one potential drawback to going pro as a teen. Focusing on a single sport while your body is still growing can increase the risk of injury. According to a Loyola University Chicago study, young athletes who specialize in one sport are as much as 93 percent more likely to be injured than those who play several sports throughout the year. 

Going pro too soon can take a toll on mental health too. When very young athletes sign contracts, they often receive a lot of public attention. And that can be incredibly stressful, says Jon Solomon, an expert in youth sports at the Aspen Institute.

“When you’re a pro athlete in your teens, the pressure may increase to make it big and create a return on investment for all the time and money spent on sports,” he says. 

All that pressure can lead to burnout—a feeling of exhaustion that can take the joy out of the game.

Then there is the issue of missing out on just being a kid. Devoting all your time to a sport means there is little time to explore other interests—or for simple joys like playing video games, hanging out with friends, or attending family gatherings. As adults, might players who went pro as teens regret missing out on those experiences? 

Then again, athletes who don’t go pro until they’re adults usually devote their teen years to training too. So if you’re good enough to go pro as a teen, why shouldn’t you get paid to do what you would be doing anyway?

As for Bryson, he did have some concerns about signing with OTE right after finishing tenth grade. 

“I was worried about leaving all my friends and taking the risk,” he admits. 

But a year and a half later, he’s not worried that he’ll one day look back with regret. For now, he’s focused on graduating high school this spring and preparing for 2024, when he will be eligible for the NBA draft. And he feels good about the choice he made.

“I feel like I’m where I’m supposed to be,” Bryson says. “This is my dream.”

^{This article was originally published in the October 2022 issue.}