COVID-19 Strikes Again: The 2020 NBA Draft Combine is on Hold.
The NBA draft is a moment where an athlete’s life will be changed forever. Unfortunately for those 60 athletes, the moment they’ve been waiting for since they were little kids will have to wait just a little bit longer.
Of course, the pandemic known as COVID-19 has put a halt to many events around the world, including sports. For die-hard sports fans, this is an extremely tough time. However, the safety and wellbeing of others come first. With that being said, the indefinite suspension of the NBA and the events that follow in the summer has us questioning the draft combine and the NBA draft.
Under normal circumstances, the two events that serve as the start of the draft season were scheduled to take place in Chicago this month. The lottery was to have taken place on May 19th, while the draft combine was scheduled to be held from May 21st through the 24th. However, with the pandemic at hand, a lot of events have been put on hold. The NBA was already reportedly considering a delay to the actual NBA draft, and according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, it is expected that will happen.
Delays are inevitable. The NBA cannot hold a draft without establishing a draft order, and the lottery is their method of doing that. This also means the lottery cannot occur until the regular season is complete or declared to be finished. Team records and standings determine the odds that the 14 non-playoff teams will have of securing the right to pick number one overall in the draft.
This period of the NBA timeline is very crucial for teams looking to add promising talent to their roster, especially in the draft combine.
Normally, the league invites about 70 players to the event. Some of the prospects will take part in workouts as well as scrimmages, while others may skip the on-court events and just interview with teams instead. The NBA Combine is vital for teams because it is a chance for teams to conduct physicals with players, a key component of the evaluation process. They are also able to scout the prospects to see who would be the best fit for their NBA roster.
The NBA is currently looking at a variety of options as to when would be the best time to move forward with the draft schedule and pre-draft events. Most likely, whenever the league moves forward with the regular season, the draft events will follow as well.
The NBA has not played since March 11th when it became the first of the major US pro sports leagues to suspend games due to the pandemic. The league has missed 259 regular-season games because of the shutdown, and the playoffs would have started a few weeks ago. With that being said until the NBA establishes a new timeline, teams have no way of working out prospects in person and the league will have to establish a new infrastructure for prospect evaluation.
In the NFL, a lot of prospects chose to hold virtual workouts as they prepped for the draft. Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, for example, had a pro day that was streamed for scouts where he threw every pass in his arsenal. The quarterback was coming off numerous injuries and he wanted to prove to his doubters that he was healthy. NBA prospects could do the same on the hardwood if they wanted to increase their draft stock.
The option of a virtual draft shouldn’t be completely ruled out either.
The NFL recently held its draft as scheduled. Despite not having the full offseason experience, it was fortunate enough to have part of its offseason to conduct typical workouts and a combine, but plenty of the pre-draft period was handled remotely. The NBA is in a position where they may have to follow in those footsteps. Unfortunately, there is no telling when this pandemic will end or even weaken. That uncertainty is going to force the league to make tough decisions as they move forward.
The only thing sports fans can do is to be patient and hope things get better so the world can get back to normal.
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-Terence Smith – Franchise Sports Media
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