NBA Officially Delays Draft Lottery in Latest Positive Step in Resuming 2019-20 Season
By Scott Rogust
Recent reports indicate that the NBA has a plan in place to resume the 2019-20 season at some point this year amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The league just got one step closer to that goal.
On Friday, the NBA officially announced that the NBA Draft Lottery and Combine, both slated for mid-May in Chicago, were postponed. While that seems like bad news at first sight, it actually means that the NBA could eventually resume their season soon, should they choose.
As discussed last night ... this is now official: The NBA has formally notified its teams that it is postponing this month's draft lottery and NBA Draft combine in Chicago
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) May 1, 2020
There's hope, basketball fans!
Think about it, why would the league hold their draft lottery and prospect combine this month when the regular season hasn't officially concluded? How do teams know their odds of landing the first-overall pick when the season standings aren't finalized? Going through with these events at this time just doesn't make sense.
Among the discussion topics today on the call: The merits of moving back the start of the 2020-2021 until December, sources said. Part of that ongoing converation surrounds the opportunity a delay could give NBA teams to get more fans in arenas for more games next season.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 1, 2020
NBA commissioner Adam Silver took the entire month of April to decide on the possible paths the league can take to resume the season during this ongoing crisis. The first domino to fall was the NBA allowing some teams to open up their respective facilities, as long as they're in states where local governments have eased their stay-at-home orders.
There's still a long way to go before we can again watch professional basketball, but we're getting closer to that dream eventually becoming a reality, even if the opening whistle isn't until months from now.