Teams have been conducting interviews in anticipation of the new draft date.
Since we can remember, the annual NBA draft has been known to take place in June – but with the new schedule that’s resulted from the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s draft is set to take place this Wednesday, November 18th.
As we approach the new upcoming draft date, the league has been up to its pre-draft obligations – including the issuing of a memo outlining regulations regarding prospects to all 30 teams.
Spanning late September through mid-October, the NBA Draft Combine has been taking place via videoconference interviews organized by team and league officials.
Following these virtual meetings, the lucky draft picks garnering interest from teams will now have the opportunity to visit their prospective teams’ cities.
Shams Charania of The Athletic had recently reported that the NBA will allow teams to conduct in-person medical evaluations and workouts through November 16th, two days before the 2020 draft.
With this year’s new circumstances, teams will need to be particularly selective with players (for obvious reasons).
The teams will be required to adhere to a cap of 10 total visits (limited to 4.5 hours each) with a maximum of two visits per player. A number of health and safety protocols will also be followed (Re: ESPN Draft Insider Jonathan Givony – see full statement below:)
“Within 72 hours prior to any visit, all participants including players, trainers, team personnel and physicians must undergo and return a negative COVID-19 result from an FDA-approved PCR test. Test results for team personnel must be provided to the league office for verification. Team personnel must also undergo a daily temperature check within two hours of interacting with any player, self-monitor for COVID-19 symptoms, wear a face covering, refrain from physical interactions (i.e. shaking hands) and maintain physical distancing of six feet or more.”
We’ll be keeping up to date on which players visit which cities, and are looking forward to seeing these trades go down during these exciting (albeit atypical) times.
