NBA postpones draft lottery, draft combine

The NBA has postponed the draft lottery and draft combine, the league announced Friday.

Both events had been set to take place in Chicago, with the lottery scheduled for May 19 and the combine May 21-24.

Sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski that the NBA held off on pushing back the June 25 draft during a board of governors conference call Friday, though the sources expect that will eventually happen.

Also among the discussion topics on the call: the merits of moving back the start of the 2020-21 season until December, sources told ESPN. Part of that ongoing conversation involves whether a delay could allow NBA teams to get more fans in arenas for more games next season.

The NBA said in a release that more information on a new date for the lottery and combine would be shared at a later date.

The lottery cannot occur until the regular season is completed or is declared over, because team records determine the odds that the 14 non-playoff teams will have of securing the right to pick No. 1 overall in the draft.

The league typically invites about 70 players to the combine, where some of the candidates work out and play in scrimmages and others skip the on-court events entirely and just interview with teams instead. The combine has also been a chance for teams to conduct physicals with players, a key component of the evaluation process.

"There are no target dates. There are more target responsibilities,'' San Antonio Spurs CEO R.C. Buford said earlier this week. "And there's still questions. We just got the early entry candidates list in the last couple days. That at least gives some kind of clarity on who the draft pool will be.

"But from there, we don't have clarity on the Chicago pre-draft or medicals or all the things that go on with draft preparation.''

NBA play has been suspended since March 11 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.