Would Rick Barnes love to add Kevin Durant to his roster if Tennessee basketball were "really, really struggling?"
"Absolutely," Barnes told the media with a smirk Friday afternoon in the wake of another G League player returning to college basketball.
"I'm not gonna be a hypocrite here," Barnes continued. "But we're talking really different things ... and I hate it."
Former Alabama center Charles Bediako is in position to play against Tennessee on Saturday night when the two teams square off in Tuscaloosa. Bediako played two seasons for the Crimson Tide from 2021-2023 before going undrafted in the 2023 NBA Draft. Alabama coach Nate Oats stated Friday he is "planning on" playing Bediako against the Vols after the big man received a a temporary restraining order Jan. 21 that makes him eligible immediately.
Bediako signed an Exhibit 10 and two-way contract with the San Antonio Spurs after going undrafted. He also signed additional Exhibit-10 contracts with the Denver Nuggets and Detroit Pistons. He's played on multiple G League teams.
"Once you make that commitment to enroll in college, and you decide to walk away from it, you've made a decision," Barnes said. "We could talk all day about comparing this, comparing that.
"I hate it for the players, 'cause sometimes when they choose to leave, they've gotten some bad advice, and bad information, and he made the decision based on that. But I will say this, too. There's a lot of decisions in my life that I made, I wish I could go back and fix. I really do. So I think every case can be different. But the age limit, I don't know if we can talk about that for various different things, but do I think that players should have five years to play college? Absolutely. And they should know that coming in, but once they decide they're out, they're out."
Bediako is the fourth G League player to return to college basketball this season thanks to a court approval. James Nnaji became the first former draft pick to return when he did so in late December. Nnaji is currently averaging 12.0 minutes per game for Baylor despite playing in the G League and being drafted No. 31 overall by the Detroit Pistons in the 2023 NBA Draft.
Barnes acknowledged that his program has to be willing to change with the times if G League players are going to be allowed to return to college. That doesn't mean he would want to add a player to his current roster, however.
"I think for us older coaches who have been in it a long time, and we can go back to the days where the NCAA, you felt like they were watching every move, secret police," Barnes said. "Now you wonder what's going on, but I think it's out of the hands of the NCAA when judges start stepping in. I mean, what can they do? I don't know how it's got to this point, to be honest. I don't know where it's going to end, but all I can say is, whatever the rules become, or whatever they are, they fold into, we have to adapt whether we like it or not.
"But we've also got to be true to the guys that we recruit. When you go out and recruit them, you make a commitment to them. I don't know if we'll, per se, save a scholarship if something like this should happen. I'd like to think that once we start in the spring with the team that we have, and we know the roster, because you know what? There was no doubt that Ethan (Burg) and Clarence (Massamba), J.P. (Estrella), and Jaylen (Carey), they missed a lot (of practice in the summer). They missed a lot, and they really want to do the right thing for us. They want to work and we believe in them."
Tennessee and Alabama are scheduled to tip at 8:30 p.m. ET Saturday night. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.
"Believe me, I love our team," Barnes said. "I love the fact these guys are continuing to work, and I can say for this particular team, even though we don't have a scholarship (available), we would not add to this roster, because we're gonna ride this horse, and we're gonna go with it, because we believe in 'em."