NBA Draft Could Be Moved To Sept. 25

The 2020 NBA Draft Could Be Moved To Sept. 25, All A Continuation Of The League's 'Scatter-Shooting of Ideas'

DALLAS - While NBA scouting departments continue to grind on in preparation for a 2020 NBA Draft - and while we here at DallasBasketball.com do the same, witness our 60-prospects-deep Big Board - the league itself looks to be targeting Sept. 25 as the date for this year's draft.

That's the word from SI colleague Sam Amico in Cleveland, with a certain understanding that changes are obviously afoot as the draft is currently scheduled for June 25. That will soon be eliminated as an option as NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and team owners and general managers work to forge plans for a resumption of the season that was put on hiatus on March 11 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

DallasBasketball.com was first to report that the NBA would like to start again in July, possibly with some form of 70-game completion of the regular season. According to one report, the league could be targeting July 31 as a return to play.

As Amico notes, the NBA calendar suggests that if the draft is indeed moved to Sept. 25, that could set Sept. 20 as the date for an "if'' Game 7 of the NBA Finals. (Amico notes, "This is based off the fact the last possible date for a Finals game generally falls five days before the draft.''_

There are, however, a myriad of concepts in play - "Lots of scatter-shooting of ideas,'' Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban tells DBcom - that could include the possibility of starting the free agency period before the draft (it has traditionally started a week later). In coordination with the NBA Draft, the league must also work to schedule its draft lottery and pre-draft combine.