I understand what you are saying, but the rule is confusing. Probably on purpose.
I think that was kind of the point the author of the article was getting at - I don't remember which article it was.
Alot of these pros play in the leagues to promote them, to work on their own game - perhaps at the direction of their NBA franchise. So it's highly unlikely that they're
not playing in some "professional" capacity.
To put the fine point on it - the general attitude was that these are American leagues, and those are European. That's
all the NCAA considers and that was the long and short of the article. European players are getting screwed, American players not so much.