NBA now eyeing late-September date for NBA Draft

After announcing their target date to resume play a few days ago, the NBA is giving a new date for their annual draft. According to Sam Amico of Sports Illustrated, the association is aiming for September 25.

While the draft is still currently scheduled for June 25, there’s almost no way that’s going to happen. It would’ve been possible for the NBA to mimic the NFL after they opted to do a virtual draft instead of pushing it back further into their offseason.

That said, Amico makes a good point, noting that a draft with that target date would mean the last game of the NBA Finals is tentatively set for September 20. The season’s regular season typically starts in late October and finishes up in early-to-mid June.

With a season ending so quickly and the next one set to start about month later, the NBA may look to further the start date of the 2020-2021 season, potentially kicking it off on Christmas Day, a date typically owned by presents, religious activities, and the NBA.

It would only make sense for the kick off to be on a day already dominated by the sport.

As for the Kentucky Wildcats, the 2020 NBA Draft is going to be an important one. While not all five are projected to be drafted, the team’s entire starting five from the 2019-2020 season have declared for the draft.

Tyrese Maxey is projected to be a lottery pick. After him, it’s murky waters for the Wildcats program. At most it seems like four Wildcats will be taken with EJ Montgomery as the odd man out.