NBA executives skeptical that the draft will take place as scheduled

Team executives around the league are reportedly skeptical the NBA Draft will take place as scheduled on Oct. 16.

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After the NBA Draft Lottery took place on Thursday, team executives around the league are reportedly skeptical the NBA Draft will happen as scheduled on Oct. 16, according to Zach Lowe of ESPN.

The main issue with holding the draft as scheduled is that free agency is tentatively set to start two days afterward. In order to start free agency, the league and the NBPA must determine the salary cap for the 2020-21 season, which is based on a revenue projection.

Prior to setting a revenue projection for next season, the NBA and NBPA must determine the revenue for this season, which is not yet known and is complicated to estimate, according to the report.

Projecting forward, next season will bring a massive revenue downturn. No party wants the cap to fall in sync with that. It is bad for players and teams. It has been widely reported, including at ESPN, that the most convenient solution would be carrying over this season’s cap figure — $109 million — into 2020-21, and placing a much larger percentage of each player’s salary into escrow so that players do not end up with more than their guaranteed share of actual revenue.

The NBA Board of Governors on Friday discussed with commissioner Adam Silver the possibility of delaying the NBA Draft and free agency in order to have more time to firm up the salary cap situation, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

The league has not yet definitively settled on a plan surrounding the draft and free agency and is still working to find a solution, though both events could once again be delayed by several weeks.

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