John Calipari expects date of NBA Draft to be pushed back
The 2020 NBA Draft is currently slated to take place on Jun. 25, but John Calipari does not expect that to proceed as scheduled.
During a conference call this week, the Kentucky men’s basketball coach, who produces a number of draft picks every year, said that he anticipates the draft being pushed back. By extension, he also indicated that other dates like the scouting combine and the draft withdrawal deadline could be delayed as well.
“Guys that have a decision to make, whether they want to stay in the draft or not, the NBA is saying, ‘We’re keeping our date the same.’ OK, well what about the Combine? That is going to move, we believe,” he said, per Adam Zagoria of the New York Times. “Well, what about the draft date? That will move.”
“What about bringing them to your facilities? We don’t know when that will happen, or if it will happen,” Calipari added. “My point to that in trying to get information to the NABC is, shouldn’t we move the decision date back for the kids to go to college or not? The date was always based on when the draft is, when the combine is. Well, that’s all moving so now I think these kids should have more time making that decision.”
As it currently stands right now, the NBA Early Entry Eligibility Deadline is set at 11:59 PM on Apr. 26 and the Early Entry Entrant Withdrawal Deadline is at 5 PM on Jun. 15. This allows potential picks to test the waters of the draft but retain their eligibility and return to school for another year if they do not get the feedback that they would like.
The NBA is still not sure exactly what to do with the remainder of the 2019-20 campaign following the suspension of play on Mar. 11 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The season is all but guaranteed to resume at some point, but that would prevent teams from devoting attention to the draft until much later. Calipari recognizes this and seems certain the 2020 draft will be postponed.
