May is normally an important month on the NBA calendar. Of course, a major reason for this is that the postseason is in full-swing, something that is not happening due to the league’s decision to spend the 2019-20 campaign amid the COVID-19 pandemic. But for those teams that aren’t in the playoffs, May marks a pair of huge events that can play a major role in laying a foundation for the future.
The NBA Draft Lottery and NBA Draft Combine normally take place this month, but according to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, both have been indefinitely suspended.
The NBA has indefinitely postponed its NBA Draft Lottery and Draft Combine in May in Chicago due to coronavirus pandemic, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 1, 2020
The NBA postponed the May Draft Lottery and Combine today, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 1, 2020
Wojnarowski went on to say that while the NBA Draft is still scheduled for June 25, the belief is that it, too, will get pushed back sometime in the future.
The NBA's Board of Governors voted on those items in a conference call today, but held off on formally pushing back the June 25 Draft date — although sources still expect that will eventually be done.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 1, 2020
This year’s NBA Draft Lottery was slated to take place on May 19, while the NBA Draft Combine was supposed to occur in Chicago from May 21-24. None of this is particularly surprising, as the league is still trying to figure out a path back onto the floor sometime in the future, and the Lottery cannot occur until records are set and odds are locked in for the various bounces on ping pong balls. With that being the case, we’ll have to wait until the regular season ends in some form or fashion for draft season to begin.
