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Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari said on a conference call Tuesday that he doesn’t believe the 2020 NBA Draft will happen as scheduled on June 25.
With the NBA regular season suspended until further notice due to the coronavirus pandemic, many believe the NBA Draft will be pushed back until July or August.
As it stands now, the early entry deadline for underclassmen in the NBA Draft is 11:59 p.m. on April 26 with the withdrawal deadline set for 5 p.m. on June 15. Since the draft will likely be pushed back, Calipari believes those players should have additional time to make a decision.
“Guys that have a decision to make, whether they want to stay in the draft or not, the NBA is saying, ‘We’re keeping our date the same,'” Calipari said, according to Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog. “OK, well what about the Combine? That is going to move, we believe. Well, what about the draft date? That will move.
“My point to that in trying to get information to the NABC is, shouldn’t we move the decision date back for the kids to go to college or not? The date was always based on when the draft is, when the combine is. Well, that’s all moving so now I think these kids should have more time making that decision.”
Many around the league believe that the pre-draft process will severely be altered due to the coronavirus pandemic. Teams typically begin to ramp up pre-draft efforts after the NCAA Tournament but with practice facilities closed, the process is a bit murky for those involved.
There is no timetable for when teams may begin working out prospects and hosting group workouts but a decision on those activities will likely surface in the coming weeks.
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