Gary Parrish

U.S. Rep Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) wrote a letter Wednesday to NBA commissioner David Stern and NBA Players Association executive director Billy Hunter that asks them to eliminate the league’s 19-year-old age minimum for U.S. players to enter the draft.

CBSSports.com obtained a copy of the letter from Cohen's office.

"I am writing to express my deep concern over the policy of the National Basketball Association (NBA) to bar athletes from playing in the league on the basis of their age," Cohen's letter to Stern begins. "The '19 plus 1' policy, which requires American players to be at least 19 years of age and one year removed from their high school graduating class, is unfair restriction on the rights of these young men to pursue their intended career. I also believe that it has played an important role in several recent scandals involving college students who were prevented from entering the NBA upon high school graduation. I ask that this policy be repealed when the NBA completes its new collective bargaining agreement with the NBA Player's Association."

Cohen expanded on his thoughts in an afternoon interview with CBSSports.com. He said that though he represents a district that includes Memphis, the timing of his letter is unrelated to recent news that the University of Memphis men's basketball program has been charged with major violations by the NCAA. Rather, the timing is connected to Thursday's start of the NBA Finals, and Cohen said he has long planned to send his letter this week because he expected two stars who never attended college to be participating on the sports' biggest stage.

"We've been looking at the issue since April, to be honest," Cohen said by phone. "We were expecting a Kobe-LeBron Finals, but we got a Kobe-Dwight Finals, which is just as fine because we've got two players who went straight from high school to the NBA (in the Finals), and it didn't seem to hurt them at all in their development as players."

Cohen said he talked with Al Harrington about the issue at The Kentucky Derby.

Harrington entered the 1998 NBA Draft after graduating high school.

He has made more than $40 million as a professional.

"(Harrington) brought (the issue) up," Cohen said. "He said it ought to be changed."

The age-limit rule first affected high school players who would've otherwise been eligible for the 2006 NBA Draft, specifically Greg Oden, Kevin Durant and Thaddeus Young. It is also considered the primary reason why O.J. Mayo and Derrick Rose spent one year each in college -- a year that subsequently caused Southern California and Memphis to deal with allegations of NCAA violations.

Cohen reiterated that he believes the age-limit rule is responsible for these scandals. He added that he's "looking into proposing legislation on the issue" and that he wants Stern and Hunter to appear before Congress and "explain what their position is."

"It's a restrain of trade on these kids, and you see it in the NFL and NBA," Cohen said. "You don't see it in Major League Baseball. I was watching the (Memphis) Redbirds play ... and I was looking at the field and there wasn't an African-American player on the field when the Iowa Cubs played the Redbirds (in a Triple-A baseball game). I didn't see one on either team, and I thought, 'This is a white sport. And tennis is a white sport. And golf is a white sport. And swimming is a white sport. And hockey is a white sport. And they don't have these restrictions. But basketball and football are predominantly African-American sports, and that's where they have the rule that forces players into college (instead of) going straight to the pros. Something here doesn't compute."