The2020 NBA draft was held on November 18, 2020. The draft was originally scheduled to be held atBarclays Center inBrooklyn on June 25, but due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, it was instead conducted atESPN's facilities inBristol, Connecticut, with the event held viavideoconferencing.National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur United Statescollege basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. It was televised nationally onESPN. Thedraft lottery was originally scheduled to take place on May 19, 2020, but due in part to the2020 NBA Bubble, it was rescheduled to take place on August 20, 2020, instead.[1] This was the first draft since1975 to not be held in June and was also the second to be done later than that month after theinaugural 1947 draft, which was conducted in July by the NBA's predecessor, theBasketball Association of America (BAA). This draft also featured the lack of a proper "green room" due to pandemic restrictions. The first pick was made by theMinnesota Timberwolves, who selectedAnthony Edwards out ofGeorgia.
New York acquired the draft rights toIssuf Sanon from Washington;Maurice Harkless, theL.A. Clippers' 2020 first-round pick, a protected 2021 first-round pick swap, and the Detroit Pistons' 2021 second-round pick from the L.A. Clippers
Philadelphia acquired the draft rights toJordan Bone, a2020 second-round pick, and the best 2023 second-round pick from either Atlanta, Brooklyn, or Charlotte
Milwaukee acquired atop-55 protected 2020 second-round pick (that later became top-45 protected before removing protections altogether in later trades with Washington)
New Orleans acquiredStanley Johnson from Detroit andJason Smith from Milwaukee, Denver's top-55 protected 2019 second-round pick,Milwaukee's 2020 second-round pick,Washington's 2020 and 2021 second-round picks from Milwaukee
Philadelphia acquiredAndrei Kirilenko,Jorge Gutiérrez, the right to swap around 2018 second-round picks, a2020 second-round pick, and cash considerations
Brooklyn acquiredBrandon Davies and two different traded player exceptions
Golden State acquiredDallas's #55–60 protected 2020 second-round pick, Denver's 2021 second-round pick, and Toronto's 2022 second-round pick from Philadelphia
Sacramento acquiredJoe Johnson and cash considerations from Utah;Iman Shumpert,Miami's 2020 second-round pick, the draft rights toDimitrios Agravanis, and cash considerations from Cleveland
Detroit acquired thedraft rights to Saddiq Bey,Džanan Musa, the draft rights toJaylen Hands,Rodney McGruder, Toronto's 2021 second-round pick, and cash considerations
L.A. Clippers acquired thedraft rights to Jay Scrubb,Luke Kennard,Justin Patton, Portland's 2023 second-round pick, and Detroit's 2024, 2025, and 2026 second-round picks
Milwaukee acquiredJrue Holiday and thedraft rights to Sam Merrill
New Orleans acquiredSteven Adams,Eric Bledsoe, two future first-round selections from Milwaukee, and the right to swap two first-round selections with Milwaukee
Due to the ongoingCOVID-19 pandemic that started earlier in the year, the invitation-onlyNBA Draft Combine and the event's on-court elements were held in multiple phases, lasting from September 28 until November 16, two days before the draft began.[68] For the first part, players began their league and team interviews via videoconference feeds, similar to this year's draft lottery. This segment lasted from September 28 until October 16. Then, in the second part, players began their individual, on-court programs at the NBA team facility nearest the player's home or interim residence instead of at one standardized area. While players were allowed to continue working out on their own even back in September 2020, this section lasted from October 16 until November 16. This program included strength and agility tests, anthropometric measurements, shooting drills, medical testing and examinations, and a "Pro Day" video filmed via HomeCourt, a mobile basketball training application. The NBA also expanded its Combine HQ tool for this period. While the NBA disallowed their staff members to be involved with these workouts in person (either in the team's practice facilities or near the player himself) at first, they eventually relaxed some of these restrictions to include up to three team executives meeting with a player they're interested in personally, as well as allowed a player to workout with multiple teams at the same time in their towns. The NBA also gave a limit of 10 meetings total with the candidates there, with any extra meetings with someone cutting into their amount allowed for this year.
At the start of this year's draft combine, only 60 prospects were confirmed to participate in this event.[69] The top, headlining prospect involved with this combine isLaMelo Ball, an automatically eligible draft prospect that gained fame as a professional player bothnationally andoverseas years earlier after skipping his junior year of high school and was a top-3 selection for the draft.[70] In addition to him,R. J. Hampton was also invited as an automatically eligible draft prospect for this year, both representingAustralia's NBL as outsider Rising Stars for different teams. Other notable invites include five fully international prospects (Deni Avdija,Killian Hayes,Théo Maledon,Paul Eboua, andKarim Mané, the last of whom played in a CanadianCEGEP), two high schoolpostgraduates (Kenyon Martin Jr. andJosh Hall), andJay Scrubb, ajunior college prospect. Like with prior years, players still held the option to either sit out the combine or have only limited participation there, such as withLaMelo Ball doing interviews with teams only. For the first half of the combine, each participant was given a standard set of 10 questions to answer in front of each team asking them, as well as league officials under a half-hour set, with players being allowed to interview as many teams as possible. In the second half of the combine, teams were allowed to meet with any candidate that had mutual interest in them back, though each team had a set limit of meetings with players in mind before the draft began. These meetings with players allowed teams to properly gauge each player to the best of their abilities during this time.
TheNBA draft lottery is held annually to determine the draft order for the teams that did not make the playoffs in the preceding season. Every NBA team that missed the NBA playoffs holds a chance at winning a top-four pick, but teams with worse records have a better chance at winning a top-four pick, effective as of the2019 draft.[71] After the lottery selects the teams that receive a top-four pick, the other teams receive an NBA draft pick based on their winning percentage from the prior season. As it is commonplace in the event of identical win-loss records, the NBA performs a random drawing to break ties for not just lottery teams, but also for playoff teams with equal records. This year, theSacramento Kings won a tiebreaker for the draft lottery over theNew Orleans Pelicans despite having a better overall record to conclude the regular season,bubble games included.
^1: The first record was the team's record as of March 12, 2020. The second record includes the team's eightbubble games, which were not used in determining lottery placements. ^2: The Memphis Grizzlies' pick was conveyed to theBoston Celtics since their selection stayed at pick 14, outside of the top 4.
The draft is conducted under the eligibility rules established in the league's 2017collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with its players' union. The previous CBA that ended the2011 lockout instituted no immediate changes to the draft but called for a committee of owners and players to discuss future changes.
All drafted players must be at least 19 years old during the calendar year of the draft. In terms of dates, players who are eligible for the 2020 draft must be born on or before December 31, 2001.
Since the 2016 draft, the following rules, as implemented by theNCAA Division I council for that division, are:[75]
Declaration for the draft no longer results in automatic loss of college eligibility. As long as a player does not sign a contract with a professional team outside the NBA, or sign with an agent, he retains college eligibility as long as he makes a timely withdrawal from the draft.
NCAA players now have until 10 days after the end of theNBA Draft Combine to withdraw from the draft. Since the combine is held in mid-May, the current deadline is about five weeks after the previous mid-April deadline.
NCAA players may participate in the draft combine and are allowed to attend one tryout per year with each NBA team without losing college eligibility.
NCAA players may now enter and withdraw from the draft up to two times without loss of eligibility. Previously, the NCAA treated a second declaration of draft eligibility as a permanent loss of college eligibility.
The NBA has since expanded the draft combine to include players with remaining college eligibility (who, like players without college eligibility, can only attend by invitation).[76]
Players who are not automatically eligible have to declare their eligibility for the draft by notifying the NBA offices in writing no later than at least 60 days before the event. For the 2020 draft, the date fell on April 26 at first, but the deadline was postponed indefinitely and moved to August 17. After that date, "early entry" players arcanttend NBA pre-draft camps and individual team workouts to show off their skills and obtain feedback regarding their draft positions. Under the CBA a player may withdraw his name from consideration from the draft at any time before the final declaration date, which is 10 days before. Under current NCAA rules, players have until 10 days after the draft combine to withdraw from the draft and retain college eligibility; however, due to COVID-19 disruptions, the NCAA announced that for the 2020 draft, the withdrawal deadline would be changed to 10 days after the combine or August 3, whichever came first.[77]
A player who has hired an agent retains his remaining college eligibility regardless of whether he is drafted after an evaluation from the NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee. Underclassmen who declare for the NBA draft and are not selected have the opportunity to return to their school for at least another year only after terminating all agreements with their agents, who must have been certified no later than August 1, 2020.[78]
This year, 205 underclassed draft prospects (i.e., players with remaining college eligibility) had declared by the initial April 26 deadline, with 163 of these players being from college or were high school postgraduates.[79] The names left over mean they have hired an agent, or have announced that they plan to do so before the night of the draft. At the end of either the August 3 deadline (or the other one which was 10 days post-combine), 71 players declared their intentions to enter the draft with an agent, while 92 announced their return to college for at least one more season (or enter college in the case ofMakur Maker). Additionally, one more academy postgraduate student managed to enter at the new underclassman deadline.[80] Furthermore, three different underclassmen that were confirmed at the time (Jermaine Bishop,Isiaha Mike, andFilip Petrušev) all signed overseas contracts in Europe while waiting for this year's draft to begin, though they still remained listed under their colleges they played for before beginning the draft process as opposed to the new teams and leagues they signed for;[81][82] Petrušev later withdrew from the draft on November 8, 2020 to stay with his new team, theMega Soccerbet in Serbia, initially leaving the final number of underclassmen students entering the draft at 71 (69 excluding Bishop and Mike).[83] At the November 8 deadline, Tony Goodwin II also withdrew his name from the draft, though Nikolaos Okekuoyen (a Greek-Nigerian postgraduate student from Ridgeview Prep) was approved for the draft that day, which still left the number of players at 71 by that time.[84]
International players who were declared this year and did not previously declare in another prior year can drop out about 10 days before the 2020 draft, which was November 8 this year. By the initial April 26 deadline, 42 international prospects, including one from a CanadianCEGEP (Quebecer college), expressed interest in this draft.[79] By the end of the deadline set in August, seven of these players pulled their names out,[80] leaving only 35 prospects, later adding one more player from a Canadian preparatory academy who also entered at that deadline. With Sergi Martínez & Joel Parra also dropping out of the draft before the draft deadline concluded, but after the official announcement came out,[85] this officially brought the final number of underclassmen available down to 84 players instead of 86, with 23 international players exiting the draft by November this year instead of 21.[84]
Players who do not meet the criteria for "international" players are automatically eligible if they meet any of the following criteria:[86]
They have completed four years of their college eligibility.
If they graduated from high school in the U.S., but did not enroll in a U.S. college or university, four years have passed since their high school class graduated.
They have signed a contract with a professional basketball team not in the NBA, but anywhere in the world, and have played under that contract.
Players who meet the criteria for "international" players are automatically eligible if they meet any of the following criteria:[86]
They are at least 22 years old during the calendar year of the draft. In terms of dates, players born on or before December 31, 1998, are automatically eligible for the 2020 draft.
They have signed a contract with a professional basketball team not in the NBAwithin the United States, and have played under that contract.
LeftKentucky in 2018; began playing professionally since the 2018–19 season Played for theBC Kalev/Cramo inEstonia during 2019–20 before signing with a new team in July 2020
^Nationality indicates the player's national team or representative nationality. If a player has not competed at the international level, then the nationality indicates the national team that the player is eligible to represent according toFIBA rules.
^Hayes was born in the United States to an American father and French mother; he was raised in France. He holds dual citizenship of both countries but plays for theFrance national basketball team.
^Avdija was born in Israel to a Serbian father. He holds dual citizenship of both countries but plays for theIsrael national basketball team.
^Nwora was born in the United States to a Nigerian father. He holds dual American-Nigerian citizenship and plays for theNigeria national basketball team.
^Mané was born in Senegal and moved to Canada as a child. He holds dual citizenship and plays for theCanada national basketball team.
^"Hornets Acquire Nick Richards". National Basketball Association. November 18, 2020.Archived from the original on November 19, 2020. RetrievedNovember 19, 2020.
^"Nets Acquire Brandon Davies". National Basketball Association. December 11, 2014.Archived from the original on February 13, 2015. RetrievedOctober 1, 2020.
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2020 NBA Draft Lottery Drawing,NBA's official YouTube channel. August 20, 2020.
Precious Achiuwa – F,Memphis (freshman)
Milan Acquaah – G,California Baptist (junior)
Nate Darling – G,Delaware (junior)
Lamine Diane – F,Cal State Northridge (sophomore)
Josh Green – G,Arizona (freshman)
/
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Nick Richards – C,Kentucky (junior)
Ömer Yurtseven – C,Georgetown (junior)
/
Deni Avdija – F,Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel)
Adrian Bogucki – C,Anwil Włocławek (Poland)
/
Imru Duke – F,CB Peñas Huesca (Spain)
/
Killian Hayes – G,ratiopharm Ulm (Germany)
Vít Krejčí – G,Casademont Zaragoza (Spain)
Marko Simonović – C,Mega Soccerbet (Serbia)
Sacha Killeya-Jones
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Kai Toews
