Charles Bediako‘s latest attempt to again play college basketball this season was rejected Tuesday by an Alabama judge who ruled against his request to return to the Crimson Tide, according to documents obtained by ESPN.
On Monday, Bediako’s legal team simultaneously asked the Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court and the Alabama Supreme Court for “interim injunctive relief” to allow him to return to college basketball as his appeal moves forward weeks after Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Pruet denied his request for a preliminary injunction that would have allowed him to play the rest of the 2025-26 campaign.
Pruet is the same judge who denied Bediako’s request for interim injunctive relief on Tuesday. Alabama law states that Bediako first had to ask the local court before the Alabama Supreme Court, which is also assessing his appeal, can rule on the same request for interim injunctive relief.
In their latest legal push, Bediako’s lawyers argued Monday that the appeal of that ruling would not be completed by the time the season ends, which would keep Bediako out of the NCAA tournament.
“The request is to put an injunction in place while the Alabama Supreme Court considers the substance of our argument as to why we believe the Circuit Court’s order was incorrect,” David Holt, one of Bediako’s attorneys, told ESPN on Monday about their appeal under the Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure.
Holt did not respond to ESPN’s request for comment after Tuesday’s ruling.
Bediako, a former G League standout who had also signed multiple NBA contracts, averaged 10 points in five games for Alabama — three years after his first stint with the team from 2021-2023. During the 2022-23 season, Bediako was a key player for a Crimson Tide team that played top-three defense that season.
The Crimson Tide went 3-2 this season with Bediako on the roster.
Although former European pros, G League players and James Nnaji, the 31st pick in the 2023 NBA draft, had been cleared to play college basketball this season, Bediako was the first player to return to college basketball after signing an NBA contract when a different local judge granted him a temporary restraining order to compete.
The unprecedented move drew widespread criticism from the game’s top stakeholders and prompted the NCAA to release a statement accusing players like Bediako of attempting to “sidestep” NCAA rules and taking opportunities away from high school players.
Judge Pruet ruled earlier this month that Bediako — and others like him — could not go to the NBA and then return to college basketball.
“To obtain the benefits promised to him for participation in NCAA basketball, the Plaintiff must be eligible to participate in NCAA basketball,” Pruet said in his denial of Bediako’s initial request for a preliminary injunction earlier this month.