NEWSLETTER
According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the NBA plans to start draft preparation at the end of June. Things will first tip off on the 21st with the draft combine running until the 27th. Sandwiched within that stretch will be the draft lottery, which is currently planned for the night of June 22nd.
Lastly, of course, is the 2021 NBA Draft that is scheduled for a little over one month later on July 29th.
The 2021 NBA Draft will be on July 29, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. NBA Draft Lottery will be on June 22. Draft Combine scheduled for June 21-27.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 29, 2021
Thanks to a large hiatus in the middle of the 2019-20 season, everything about this season’s calendar has been thrown out of whack. However, it appears this draft process could be the league’s first effort to get things back on track.
Typically the draft takes place at the end of June, but with this season starting in December, the last possible day the season can end is July 22nd. With that being the case, the draft obviously needs to be held comfortably past that date. But while that still might set the league back from their pre-COVID days, it most definitely brings them closer to that familiar calendar. The season is usually supposed to tip-off toward the end of October, so a late-July draft could still possibly allow for the league to bring back an abbreviated version of Summer League and provide players with a more comfortably-sized offseason.
No matter the exact details, it does appears Commissioner Adam Silver wants to get the league back on track sooner than later. In a March 6th press conference, Silver told reporters that he can envision a 2021-22 season that “looks, feels, and plays” a lot more normal.
Circling back to the draft news, for once, Bulls fans probably don’t need to commit these dates to memory. Arturas Karnisovas sent this season’s first-round pick, as well as the team’s 2023 first-round pick, to the Orlando Magic as part of the Nikola Vucevic trade. Now, both picks are said to be top-4 protected, so if things turn very sour over the next couple of weeks, there may be a situation where we are all anxiously waiting to see what happens at the June 22nd lottery. If all goes according to plan, though, that night (and much of the draft process) should hold little to no significance for Chicago.
