NBA Draft Lottery, Combine Indefinitely Postponed

The NBA postponed its 2020 Draft Lottery, originally slated for May 19th, as the league pushes back on a decision to resume the season or not.

Draft SZN has officially been postponed.

The NBA has decided to postpone the 2020 Draft Lottery and Draft Combine indefinitely, per The Athletic’s Shams Charania. Both events were scheduled to take place this month in Chicago, Illinois.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski the league’s Board of Governors voted on the indefinite postponement on a conference call on Friday. One draft-related item that remains on schedule is the draft itself, still slated for June 25th, but Wojnarowski notes that too will be postponed in all likelihood.

This does not come as a shock to anyone. The combine was never expected to take place in May once states started issuing stay-at-home orders and the NBA suspended its season. The lottery, on the other hand, was most likely to be spared, given it would be easy to reorganize the dais to adhere to social distancing guidelines. That postponement is due to the league remaining in limbo and has yet to come to a formal decision on whether to cancel the season or not.

For the New York Knicks, this simply means there is more time to scout prospects. If, or when, the league does come back, it wouldn’t make much sense for the regular season to resume. There may not be a combine at all, which would force teams to lean heavily on their scouting departments than usual.

Editor’s note: This article was updated to reflect accurate Board of Governors vote occurring on Friday, not Thursday. I don’t know what days are anymore.

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