NBA shelves draft lottery, combine
Warriors must wait a bit longer to learn position in first round
The Warriors will have to wait a bit longer to learn where they’ll be picking in the NBA draft.
The league announced Friday afternoon that the NBA draft lottery and the NBA draft combine — initially scheduled for May 19 and May 2124, respectively — have been postponed indefinitely. Per a news release, “More information will be shared at a later date as the NBA continues to closely monitor the coronavirus pandemic and consult with infectious disease specialists, public health experts and government officials.”
The announcement came after the NBA’s Board of Governors voted on those items in a conference call Friday. According to ESPN, the league held off on formally postponing the June 25 draft.
Multiple sources told The Chronicle that the draft will almost certainly be pushed back, with many team own
ers wanting at least several weeks between the lottery and the draft. It’s possible that, if the NBA resumes play this season, the draft still wouldn’t come until after the Finals. Under that scenario, the lottery would probably be aired on the pregame broadcast of a conference finals game — the league’s ritual in recent years.
Given that draft odds are based off the 14 nonplayoff teams’ regularseason records, the NBA can’t hold the lottery until the regular season is completed or ruled over. The combine, which typically includes 70 of the draft’s top prospects, is a chance for teams to conduct physicals with players, take them through workouts and physical tests, and interview them.
However, the format of both the lottery and combine might need to be changed considerably to help curtail the spread of the coronavirus. This wouldn’t keep millions of sports fans hungry for content from tuning in. Even though all picks were made virtually, the NFL draft shattered viewership records last week.
Per ESPN, one of the topics discussed on Friday’s conference call was the merits of pushing back the start of the 202021 season until December. Part of the reasoning behind postponing it would be to help ensure that more fans will feel comfortable joining 20,000 other people at games.
Regardless of what happens with 202021, the Warriors are proceeding as if they won’t play another game this season. In midMarch, when the NBA suspended play, Golden State — at a leagueworst 1550 — was the only team mathematically eliminated from postseason contention.
The Warriors’ focus is on constructing their big board for what will be an important draft. For the first time since it took Mike Dunleavy Jr. with the No. 3 pick in 2002, Golden State is slated to have a topfive selection.
The Warriors have 14% odds at the No. 1 pick, 13.4% odds at the No. 2 pick, 12.7% odds at the No. 3 pick, 12% odds at the No. 4 pick and 47.9% odds at the No. 5 pick. Once Golden State learns what selection it has landed at the draft lottery, it can start to examine different scenarios, which include packaging its $17.2 million trade exception with the topfive pick to move down in the draft and bring back an established rotation player.