With the NBA on track to resume its 2019-20 season after the Board of Governors nearly unanimously approved a 22-team proposal on Thursday, one important aspect for the rest of the league is how the 2020 NBA Draft Lottery will shake out.
According to ESPN's Zach Lowe, first, the eight teams not qualified to the NBA's return in Orlando, Florida, in late July, will automatically be in the 2020 Draft Lottery, which is set to occur on Aug. 25.
Then, to fill out the 14 total franchises invited to the lottery vying for a chance at the top pick in the draft, the six teams that “participate in the restart but do not qualify for the playoffs” will round out the 14 teams.
Lottery rules will be as @kpelton and I discussed on the Lowe Post podcast yesterday, via NBA official release. pic.twitter.com/fg5bF3MDGv
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) June 4, 2020
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a global public-health crisis that, just in the United States, claimed the lives of over 105,000 individuals, per publicly available data, the NBA suspended its 2019-20 season back in mid-March, with a decision on when and how to resume the campaign stretching out for three months. Players will start to report to their teams in a single location, Walt Disney World, for the qualified playoff teams and franchises in range of the playoffs by mid-July.
The NBA also plans to test players and staff assembled in its unified location to play out the rest of the season and playoffs, ensuring cases of coronavirus do not threaten the health and safety of its athletes along with coaches, officials, and family members tagging along. The league has a long way to go to convince everyone resuming play is right and safe, however.
The NCAA suspended its annual national tournament around the same time as the NBA back in March, making a very long time for soon-to-be former collegiate athletes turned to professional ones waiting on the NBA Draft, now set for Oct. 15, 2020.
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