NBA sets its date for draft

NBA prospects now have a date they can attach to their dreams, but it will entail waiting nearly four more months for that memorable evening.

The 2020 draft will be held Oct. 16, according to multiple reports, four months after it was originally scheduled.

The cutoff date for early entries will be Aug. 17 — though the date for college players to withdraw from the draft is Aug. 3. That would have been 10 days after the NBA Combine, which is not expected to take place because of the coronavirus. International and non-college players have until Oct. 6 to withdraw from the draft.

The draft lottery will be held on Aug. 25 and free agency will begin Oct. 18. The moratorium period for deals will be held from Oct. 19-23, ESPN reported, less than a week after the final game of the NBA Finals could be played on Oct. 13.

The NBA is planning to resume its postponed season with 22 teams on July 30 at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Fla. They will play eight regular season games before postseason play begins in a bubble the league has created to avoid the spread of the coronavirus within teams and personnel.

Citing a league-wide memo, ESPN reported that starting Tuesday teams can have up to 10 coaches at their facilities for workouts, a necessary step with training camps slated to begin soon. Four players can be at team facilities at the same time from June 23-30 and eight players can do so from July 1-9, the memo stated. At that point, teams will head down to Orlando.

It remains uncertain if there will be an NBA Combine or if teams will even be able to host workouts. Because of the short turnaround between the playoffs and the draft and free agency, teams have already begun formulating their draft and free-agent boards months in advance, according to sources.

The Knicks have the sixth-best odds (9 percent) of winning the draft lottery.