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With news of the NBA’s return, we also now know when college players must make a final decision on whether to return to school or remain in the 2020 NBA Draft.
The NCAA has announced that men’s basketball student-athletes will have until 10 days after the NBA Draft Combine or Aug. 3, whichever comes first, to withdraw from the draft and retain their eligibility.
However, there is still no date set for the NBA Draft Combine. That could prove troublesome for prospects hoping to go through the combine before making their draft decision.
According to Sports Illustrated’s Jeremy Woo, the combine may not take place until after the Draft Lottery on August 25th.
As I understand it, there’s a level of hope that the NBA will still be able to hold the draft combine. Would take place at some point after the Aug. 25 lottery, may not happen until September. Conducting player medicals and measurements would (predictably) be the key components.
— Jeremy Woo (@JeremyWoo) June 4, 2020
Typically, the combine happens a few weeks before the NCAA deadline to withdraw from the draft in May. However, the COVID-19 outbreak forced the NBA to delay the remainder of its season until July 31st, while the draft won’t happen until October 15th, three days after a potential Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
And with the majority of schools beginning class in early-to-mid August, they NCAA is really left with no choice but to make the deadline right before then.
The Kentucky Wildcats won’t have to worry about stay-or-go decisions, as all five Cats who declared also announced they’ll remain in the draft and forgo remaining eligibility.