None of these "character" issues are David Stern's fault. But without his decision to raise the NBA's entry age (he now wants to raise it by another year), Mayo would have been playing pro ball already and not posing as a college student and damaging USC's basketball program as well the school's reputation. It remains to be seen if this incident costs him anything—if, in a league that purports to be increasingly character-conscious, Mayo will slip in next month's draft, losing millions. (Don't bet on it; ESPN's own mock draft has Mayo going as a top-six pick.)

Stern likes to suggest that having these young players in college for even one year is—for the player, the college and the league—a win-win-win situation. Nobody can pretend that's the case with Mayo. Indeed, it looms as a likely lose-lose-lose proposition—and one that is ultimately of Stern's own making.

© 2008