What the new NBA Draft means for teams and draftees

The announcement of the new date of the NBA draft and free agency gives potential prospects and teams multiple options.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski dropped a “Woj bomb” early Saturday afternoon with the new dates of the 2020 NBA Draft and free agency. Woj reports that the draft, which was originally postponed until mid-September, is now scheduled for Oct. 16.

Furthermore, 2020 free agency will officially start on Oct. 18 at 6 p.m. ET, with the moratorium period being Oct. 19-23.

This announcement has some significant implications on the league considering the timeline and current circumstances. Recently, concerns have surfaced over whether the NBA should resume its season due to social unrest throughout the United States and the rapidly increasing number of new coronavirus cases. The schedule consists of the first day of games starting on July 30 and ending with the Finals no later than Oct. 12.

As of now, no reports have surfaced on the league considering to change its restart plan, nor have any executives such as commissioner Adam Silver made any statements. Considering what Silver has said regarding players’ efforts to address social injustice, it seems they don’t plan to postpone the season.

College athletes, who usually have approximately two months to decide whether to enroll back in school or go pro, now have six weeks. Despite the early entry deadline being Aug. 17 and the early withdrawal date being Oct. 6, collegiate players must choose based on the NCAA’s precedent.

The NCAA mandated Aug. 3 as the date for players to withdraw from the draft. This means if a player withdraws his name after that day and is allowed to return to school, he would be ineligible to compete in the 2020-21 NCAA season. Luckily, these players would still have the option of going overseas, but even that is a huge risk considering other pro basketball leagues have failed to restart and are still in limbo.

It will be interesting to monitor what collegiate athletes do over the next month and a half. Those who were potential fringe lottery picks might play it safe and return to their respective campuses. Others might go for broke and enter anyway, whether it be due to the guarantee of having their name called or the chance of a weaker draft class.

Some NBA teams have most likely already foreseen this and switched gears to international prospects. International players are the major winners of this draft for two reasons: 1) They’re not tied down by a time-crunching deadline such as the NCAA’s and 2) Their stock will increase if this ends up being a weak draft class. Prospects such as Deni Avdija, LaMelo Ball and Killian Hayes are already top-10 picks in most analysts’ mock drafts. Now guys like R.J. Hampton and Theo Maledon have more value for lottery teams.

Plus, with no reported resumptions of other pro basketball leagues, young international players will be more inclined to come over to the states for a more sure thing in the NBA.

Finally, teams must prepare for a quick transition between the draft and free agency period. We’ve already seen teams start shoring up their front offices as recently as this week. The Detroit Pistons hired Troy Weaver as their general manager, while the New York Knicks are actively searching for their next head coach, whether it be Kenny Atkinson, Will Hardy or Tom Thibodeau.

The huge advantage for the Knicks and Pistons is they’re both in the lottery. Whoever wasn’t invited to Orlando already has a head start on the offseason. Title contenders or squads who are projected to make deep playoff runs must strategize for the future sooner rather than later.

It won’t be a surprise if teams decide to wait until next offseason to make any major changes due to both the potential of a weaker draft class and a not-so-popular free agency class.

The 2020 class features players such as Anthony Davis (who will most likely re-sign with the Los Angeles Lakers), Mike Conley (coming off an injury-riddled season in which he posted some of the worst numbers of his career) and DeMar DeRozan (a good scorer with an outdated playing style). 2021 will be more favorable with a much stronger draft class and the hot commodity that is Giannis Antetokounmpo.