Report: NBA moves draft back to Nov. 18, 2020-21 season won’t begin before Christmas

Jeff Swinger-USA TODAY Sports

Enjoying these NBA playoff games in the Orlando bubble? Make the most of the experience, because once it’s over it will be a little while before the league comes back again for the 2020-21 season.

And the college and international prospects waiting to get drafted into the league will have to wait a little longer to hear their name called by commissioner Adam Silver.

Shams Charania of The Athletic is reporting the NBA league office has informed its Board of Governors that the earliest the 2020-21 season will begin is Christmas Day. Meanwhile, the 2020 NBA Draft—originally set for late June, then pushed to mid-October—is now on tap for Nov. 18.

That means the three Arizona Wildcats players who declared for the draft—Josh Green, Nico Mannion and Zeke Nnaji—will go more than eight months between finishing their abbreviated freshman college seasons and officially becoming NBA players.

The NBA paused its 2019-20 season in mid-March amid the coronavirus pandemic, resuming in late July with 22 of 30 teams convening at Walt Disney World. The NBA Playoffs began last month, with one team (the Miami Heat) already advancing to the conference finals while six other teams continue to battle in the conference semifinal round.

The NBA Finals are scheduled to begin Sept. 30, ending as late as Oct. 12.

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