The NBA’s new schedule for the 2020 NBA Draft and Draft Lottery

With their plan to restart the season, the NBA has announced a new schedule for the 2020 NBA Draft and Draft Lottery.

The NBA’s Board of Governors voted Thursday to approve the league’s plan for restarting the 2019-20 NBA season. A total of 22 NBA teams — the 16 teams currently in playoff position, along with the Washington Wizards, Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings, New Orleans Pelicans, Phoenix Suns and San Antonio Spurs — will be heading to Walt Disney World. Beginning July 31, each team will play eight regular-season games before beginning the playoffs.

The nearly three-month interruption to the season has rolled every part of the basketball calendar back. As part of the announcement that the playoff plan had been approved, the league also announced new dates for the NBA Draft Lottery and the 2020 NBA Draft, which were originally supposed to be held on May 19 and June 25, respectively.

When is the 2020 NBA Draft and NBA Draft Lottery?

Per a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the NBA Draft Lottery will now be held on Aug. 25. We have not heard any details yet on whether the regular-season games that are played in Orlando will affect lottery odds, or if those will be frozen based on the current standings. The Golden State Warriors, Cleveland Cavaliers and Minnesota Timberwolves currently have the three worst records and the best odds of landing the No. 1 overall pick.

The actual NBA Draft will be held on Oct. 15, just three days after Oct. 12, which has already been announced as the date for a potential Game 7 of the NBA Finals under the league’s new plan. The league had already canceled the Draft Combine and prohibited players from conducting in-person workouts with teams but with these new structures in place, it’s possible there could be some changes coming there as well.