The NBA board of directors discussed the delay in the mid-October NBA draft and start of free agency in a conversation with Commissioner Adam Silver on Friday, sources told ESPN.
The possibility of delaying these two events – an idea with growing support within the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association – fits into a potential timeline that would have pushed the NBA’s original NBA back on December 1, 2020-2021.
The board’s call on Friday – consisting largely of league owners – also included a discussion of possible dates to begin the next NBA season outside of the current tentative date of Dec. 1. Silver told ESPN’s Rachel Nichols on Thursday that the Dec. 1 date “feels a little early for me.”
ESPN reported on Thursday that NBPA executive director Michele Roberts and union representatives have prepared players for the chance that free agency will be pushed back so many weeks from its current Oct. 18 – along with Dec. 1. To the season.
The NBA and NBPA need to negotiate these changes collectively, but support on both sides to delay next season’s NBA calendar is mutually beneficial, as the goal of getting fans into arenas for next season’s games is the core of the income base of the league.
“Our No. 1 goal is to get fans back in arenas,” Silver told ESPN during the draft for the lottery show on Thursday. “… if it’s pushed back and it increases the chances of fans in arenas … that’s what we’ll be focusing on.”
Due to the uncertainty about next season’s projected revenues, the delay on the October 18 launch of free agency will give the NBA and NBPA a better ability to formulate the parameters of salary cap 2020-2021 and thresholds for luxury.
The longer the league waits for every decision and projection, the hope is that the latest information on the coronavirus pandemic can provide a better understanding of when there is an opportunity to play games in 2020-2021 with fans in arenas – what Silver said it has generated about 40 percent of the league’s revenue.
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