The NBA didn’t make any surprising announcements about their future on Friday afternoon as the calendar turned from April to May, but they did make some inevitable postponements on the league calendar, yet another sign that the league is hoping to finish the regular season and the playoffs before heading into the 2020-21 season.
The NBA announced in a press release on Friday that the NBA Draft Lottery and Draft Combine, both scheduled to take place in Chicago in May, have been postponed. The NBA also said that “more information on each event will be shared at a later date as the NBA continues to closely monitor the coronavirus pandemic and consult with infectious disease specialists, public health experts and government officials. ”
The league still has not released any set dates or goal-dates to resume the season, but ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports that the June 25 draft date will also certainly get pushed back.
The NBA's Board of Governors voted on those items in a conference call today, but held off on formally pushing back the June 25 Draft date — although sources still expect that will eventually be done.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 1, 2020
While the NBA has started to see momentum grow around some restart proposals, including at Walt Disney World, they still have to wait for the public health situation in North America to become more manageable and tests to be more widely available to the general public. Realistically, the postponement of the draft just gives the NBA a little bit more time to have more hope about not only crowning a champion, but also fulfilling obligations to their television rights holders.
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