Ex-Alabama Star Who Played in the G League Pushing for Additional NCAA Eligibility

The latest legal challenge to the NCAA’s eligibility rules could bring a former Alabama star back to the Crimson Tide, just in time for the season’s stretch run.

Charles Bediako, the starting center on Alabama’s 2022–23 team that won the SEC and earned the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, is suing the NCAA in Tuscaloosa Circuit Court with sights set on rejoining the Tide for the remainder of this college basketball season. AL.com, which first reported the existence of the suit, reports that Bediako has already enrolled at Alabama for the second semester.

Bediako enrolled at Alabama in 2021 and played two seasons with the Tide, emerging as one of the most effective rim protectors in college basketball. After the 2023 season, he elected to keep his name in the NBA draft, theoretically forgoing his NCAA eligibility by not withdrawing before the May 31 deadline set by the NCAA for college players. He went undrafted and never appeared in an NBA game. However, Bediako signed multiple NBA contracts, including a two-way contract with the San Antonio Spurs in 2023, and played in the G League. Now, he’s attempting to return to play out the final half-season of his five-year eligibility clock, which started when he enrolled initially at Alabama.

The NCAA said Tuesday that it “has not and will not grant eligibility to any prospective or returning student-athletes who have signed an NBA contract.”

The complaint specifically refers to the NCAA’s recent decision to grant eligibility to former draft pick James Nnaji, who signed with Baylor in December and has begun playing for the Bears. The two potential distinctions between the two cases: Nnaji never signed an NBA contract and Nnaji also wasn’t subject to the NCAA’s draft withdrawal deadline. The NCAA has sought to keep out of college any player who has signed an NBA contract, and NCAA president Charlie Baker specifically called out the two-way contract Bediako signed as an example of an NBA contract.

The @NCAA has not and will not grant eligibility to any prospective or returning student-athletes who have signed an @NBA contract (including a two-way contract). As schools are increasingly recruiting individuals with international league experience, the NCAA is exercising…
— Charlie Baker (@CharlieBakerMA) December 30, 2025

Meanwhile, one of Bediako’s attorneys, Darren Heitner, tweeted a statement that says, in part:

“Charles seeks recognition of his right to compete for the University of Alabama. The NCAA’s arbitrary and inconsistent enforcement of its eligibility standards is inflicting immediate and irreparable harm upon him. This harm is particularly egregious given the NCAA’s recent decisions granting eligibility to athletes with far more extensive professional experience, revealing a pattern of selective and inequitable application of its own rules.”

It is an honor to represent Charles Bediako as part of his legal team in this eligibility dispute against the NCAA.

Charles seeks recognition of his right to compete for the University of Alabama. The NCAA's arbitrary and inconsistent enforcement of its eligibility standards is… https://t.co/qtES35GbhB
— Darren Heitner (@heitner) January 21, 2026

The implications could be far reaching if Bediako is allowed to return to college basketball. A few of the potential precedents it could set:

A player being able to leave college basketball and then come back could open the floodgates for a number of other former college stars to be recruited this spring by college teams. Among those: Judah Mintz, a former star at Syracuse, and RJ Luis Jr., last season’s Big East Player of the Year at St. John’s. Schools have had exploratory conversations with both players’ representatives about potential college options for 2025–26.
If the NCAA’s withdrawal deadline isn’t enforceable, there is little incentive for players not to enter the draft, see where they are selected (if selected at all) and then make a decision on whether to return to college. That could also seriously impact the NBA: As of now, players can only go through the NBA draft process once, and if a player could go undrafted, return to college and then emerge on NBA radars, they might be classified as free agents and be able to bypass the draft altogether. Notably, Sports Illustrated reported earlier in January that NBA commissioner Adam Silver had met with Baker in New York to discuss, among other things, new changes to eligibility standards.
While technically, Bediako being granted eligibility wouldn’t be bringing a former NBA player back to college, it would cast serious doubt about the NCAA’s ability to enforce its stance that players who’ve played in NBA games can’t return to school. And though those types of situations seem likely to be relatively rare (especially in a world in which players choose to stay in college longer than in the past because of the amount of money they can make there), it’d certainly be a significant development.

There’s also the conversation of what it could mean for Alabama’s team this season. The team’s Achilles heel all season has been its defense, ranking No. 66 nationally per KenPom compared to its No. 2-ranked offense. Bediako could immediately change that. Alabama was the third-best defense nationally in Bediako’s final season at Alabama and was essential in them becoming the nation’s best two-point defense. Adding a player of his caliber could give Alabama’s SEC championship and Final Four hopes a massive boost.

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