If you want to be in the NBA, it helps to be, among other things, excellent at the playing of basketball.

If you want to be in the NBA draft, basketball skills arent required.

There is a group of 18 people who are officially draft eligible for Thursdays festivities at Barclays Center in New York, and they have one thing in common: They will not be getting drafted. The NBA has them on what it calls the B List unknown individuals, officially. All that is required is fill out the necessary paperwork to enter the draft, a process that has allowed some with no real basketball ability to apply.

Its a phenomenon thats not new. Its gone on for nearly a half-century; some do it and generate attention, others have stayed quiet. Its gimmicky, sure, but the rules are clear: If someone meets the general criteria laid out by the NBA, then they can become eligible for the draft.

A law student from Florida named Jordan Haber is one of this years 18 names; hes posted several videos to TikTok detailing how he got into this years draft. Hes said he will be at Barclays Center on Thursday night for the draft with tickets from the arenas social media team, not an invite from the NBA.