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Once the bizarre 2019-2020 NBA Bubble season ends, it’s time to get the next one started— and that begins with the draft.
While the draft usually takes place towards the end of June, the league was delayed for several months, so it’s been rescheduled to November 18.
This wacky, weird year for the NBA continues as a draft date has been solidified after months of speculation about when the offseason activities would happen, considering the NBA still hasn’t completed its season, and it’s now September.
In a league-wide memo that was sent out, the date has been described as “locked-in” as the NBA Finals starts to come into focus with both conference Finals now set to begin.
Upon the resumption of the season, the draft was tentatively scheduled for October 16. The start of the 2020-21 season was also pushed back from December 1. The exact date it will begin has not yet been announced, but it was revealed by Shams Charania that the season will not start before Christmas.
The draft being just a couple weeks before the start of the season means that incoming rookies will not have a lot of time to get acclimated to their new teams, not to mention the last time a lot of these guys played any semblance of organized basketball was in March, six whole months ago.
That time has been even longer for two of the top prospects in the draft. LaMelo Ball ended his season last November in Australia with a foot injury, and James Wiseman was deemed ineligible for the college season because of improper benefits, that also happened back in November. So the two of the potential top picks could possibly go over a year without playing organized basketball.
Currently, the Minnesota Timberwolves hold the number one pick in the draft, followed by the Golden State Warriors and the Charlotte Hornets rounding out the top three.
In other league news, the league has named its All Teams. The first team includes LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo –who were unanimous– alongside Luka Doncic, Anthony Davis, and James Harden. The second team is comprised of Damian Lillard, Kawhi Leonard, Nikola Jokic, Chris Paul, and Pascal Siakam. And lastly, the third team consists of Ben Simmons, Jayson Tatum, Jimmy Butler, Rudy Gobert, and Russell Westbrook.
