The NCAA board of directors approved legislation allowing high school seniors, beginning with the class of 2002, to go through the NBA draft and still play college basketball as long as they don't sign with an agent.

But any player who gets selected would be stuck at that spot in the draft until a year after he leaves college, losing his right to improve his earning potential.

That's why NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik says he doesn't think the NCAA's board of directors fully understood the NBA's rules after adopting the legislation Thursday in Indianapolis at their annual meeting.

"I don't think they understand,’’ Granik told ESPN.com Thursday night. "If a player slips to No. 28 in the first round, then that team owns the player's rights at that salary even if that player turns out to be the college player of the year four years later. I don't think anybody would do this if they understood how the rules work.’’

Granik said the NBA rules for underclassmen wouldn't change for high school seniors with the same deadline of May 12 to declare for the draft. Like college underclassmen, high school seniors would have a chance to withdraw from the draft up to a week prior to the June 26 event in New York.

Under the previous NCAA rule, high school players lost their eligibility if they declared for the draft. The rules for college underclassmen remain the same, meaning they'll lose their eligibility if they get drafted. College underclassmen can return to college if they go through the draft but aren't selected.

At least one assistant general manager contacted Thursday night thought this could open a floodgate of high school seniors testing the draft process. But Granik said he didn't think it would affect the league.

A second-round choice would make even more of a mistake, considering he would be stuck at the current league minimum of $349,000. If that minimum continued to rise, which it does, throughout his years in college, then the player would make below the minimum. The only way to become a free agent would be to wait a full season after the player leaves college.

NBA teams would have to pay the guaranteed contract of any first-round draft choices. Second-round draft choices don't get guaranteed contracts.

"It's not a sensible approach unless he knows he is going to come out and play,’’ Granik said.

For players who are expected to be ineligible for college, going through the draft probably won't hurt their cause. But there could be some tough decisions for players if they don't get the right advice.

"How is a high school player going to get an accurate depiction of where he stands?’’ Alabama coach Mark Gottfried said. "He's probably going to call an agent. A college player can talk to his college staff and they can call the NBA. This is ludicrous.’’

The NCAA's David Berst said the move was done to give high school seniors the same chance as college players to get information on their draft status. Berst also said the high school senior would have until the fall semester to decide if he still wanted to play college basketball, assuming he is eligible.

"It completely puts your recruiting class in a state of chaos,’’ Gottfried said. "And the player doesn't benefit by maximizing his draft potential. He could be locked into a lower salary.’’

Duke assistant Steve Wojciechowski said this gives an elite player "another thing to think about and flirt with.’’ Wojciechowski said he doesn't see schools waiting the whole summer to see if the player wants to play in the fall.

High school seniors Amare Stoudemire (Cypress Creek, Fla.) and Lenny Cooke (Old Tappen, N.J.) are expected to officially declare for the NBA draft in the next two weeks. Eligibility issues have dogged both players and college recruiters have essentially backed off of them. Stoudemire is a likely lottery pick and Cooke is probably a second-round choice, according to NBA scouts.

But a number of other potentially college-bound seniors have flirted with the idea of declaring for the draft and this rule change could factor into a decision. DeAngelo Collins of Inglewood, Calf., Sani Ibrahim of Oak Hill Academy in Virginia and teammate Carmelo Anthony could all be potential draft candidates. But this also could factor into the decisions of Villanova-bound signee Jason Fraser or UCLA-bound signee Evan Burns.

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim is convinced Anthony wouldn't jump at declaring, considering he would only have gone if he were in the top 10. NBA scouts look at Anthony as a mid to late first-round choice and if he went, but still attended Syracuse, then he would be locked in at that draft spot.

"It's not hard to figure out,’’ Boeheim said. "It makes no sense. But I don't understand how the NCAA thinks this helps kids.’’

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.