This year’s NBA season is a bit different due to COVID-19. The typical campaign would start in October and would last all the way until early-mid June. With the pandemic raging on, the NBA was forced to start the season in late December, and now, the playoffs won’t be starting until May. With this in mind, the playoffs are now going to be finishing up in July, just before the Summer Games in Tokyo, Japan.
This has forced the NBA to tinker with its normal NBA Draft schedule, although today, that schedule was unveiled. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the NBA Draft Lottery will go down on June 22nd, while the actual draft will be July 29th. As for the combine, that will be a week-long event from June 21st-27th.
There are going to be some big names in the draft this year and teams with poor finishes in the regular season will be hoping for some luck in the lottery come June. Teams like the Minnesota Timberwolves and New Orleans Pelicans have benefitted from the lottery system in the past, and only time will tell who gets the first pick in 2021. Perhaps the T-Wolves have a chance at repeating.
