With the NBA’s board of governors scheduled to meet on Friday to discuss several matters related to the ongoing suspension of the 2019-20 season, the topic of free agency and this year’s draft are among the topics that are likely to be touched on. If the latest rumors are to be believed, the 2020 offseason might come with an important twist in terms of scheduling, with the free-agency period kicking off before draft day instead of the other way around.
Citing multiple unnamed sources familiar with the situation, Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote on Thursday that the 2020 NBA Draft could take place in September instead of June 25 as previously scheduled. Two of these insiders added that the board of governors is also expected to touch base on whether free agency should start before or after the draft. Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s free agency period was originally set to begin at 6 p.m. EDT on June 30.
As explained by Pompey, league executives are mostly divided when it comes to the schedule of the draft and free agency, with some preferring to maintain the traditional schedule and others pointing out that starting the latter before the former allows teams to make better personnel decisions.
NBA is working on multi-phase medical/safety protocols for restarting the season, per @ShamsCharania
Projections:
?In-market training camps in July ?Camps/scrimmages in Orlando ?Resume play late July/early August pic.twitter.com/u2HPEKycP7
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 27, 2020
Sharing an example of how holding the draft before the free-agency period could result in a less than informed move, Pompey mentioned how the Cleveland Cavaliers used their No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft to select small forward Andrew Wiggins. That came slightly over two weeks before superstar small forward LeBron James returned to Cleveland via free agency, thus forcing the team to trade Wiggins to the Minnesota Timberwolves in a three-team deal that brought forward/center Kevin Love to the Cavs.
Although the above topic could be among the talking points during Friday’s meeting, Pompey stressed that the NBA most likely won’t make a decision on the draft and free agency schedule “in the near future.” This adds to earlier reports that suggested the league won’t be voting yet on whether or not to resume the 2019-20 campaign during the meeting but might continue discussing plans to complete the season over the weekend. Per Pompey, this is still the biggest priority for team officials at the moment, given the financial losses caused by the coronavirus-related suspension of operations.
“The decisions and/or announcements on free agency and the draft will come after the end-date for the NBA Finals is determined,” he continued, also citing a source who said that the draft might be held five to seven days after the last game of the Finals.