The NBA is finally going to get around to its annual player Draft on November the 18th.  However, due to the COVID-19 crisis, which is why the Draft was delayed in the first place, the event will be virtual, like a big Zoom meeting.

All of the players being considered will be shown, live and on some hot video clips.  The first round picks will be called out by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver from ESPN’s studios in Bristol, Connecticut.  There with him will be NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum to reveal the second round selections.

The Minnesota Timberwolves won the NBA Draft Lottery, which was also delayed from May 19 until August 20, so the Timberwolves will have the enviable right to select the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 draft.

Hot Picks Ready To Make The Jump

Leading candidates for the coveted Number One spot are 6’5” Georgia Bulldog guard Anthony Edwards, Center James Wiseman at 7’1” is also a possibility to go #1.  Wiseman played briefly for the University of Memphis before eligibility hassles caused him to leave the school.  One more very attractive No. 1 selection is 6’7” guard LaMelo Ball who has already gained some professional experience playing for Lithuania and New Zealand before he was eligible for the NBA Draft in 2020.

The Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA Championship on October 11 behind the leadership of LeBron James and some very good back up players.  The entire NBA Playoffs event was held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando, FL, and was conducted in a “bubble” so to speak as a protection against COVID-19.

The Draft was originally scheduled to take place back in June at the Barclays Center in New York, but, once again, the COVID-19 pandemic came around and it became necessary to reschedule, and rethink, the NBA Draft for 2020.

The 2021 NBA Season Is Approaching

As to when the next actual NBA season will get underway, Commissioner Adam Silver told reporters that his best guess would be in January 2021.  That will make for a short off season for pro basketball this year.  But Silver wants to be able to play a full 82-game schedule next year, played in each team’s respective arenas with fans in attendance.

That’s his plan anyway; it remains to be seen how that will work out.  There are also rumors of a pre-Christmas start and a 72-game schedule, but the information hasn’t yet been confirmed.

If the NBA does start its regular season in January, that would mean that the finals would not take place until September, when the sports calendar is pretty full anyway.  As the NBA regular season action usually starts in mid-October, they are going to come up about 70 days short any way you look at it.  However, Adam Silver seems determined to get the NBA back on its regular track this coming year, but, depending on how bad this COVID-19 situation gets, that could just not be possible.

NBA Coaches Starting To Make Plans

Every coach of every team of every sport would love to hold his or her event in a venue full of supportive fans cheering for their team, but gatherings such as that just may be way too risky to even think about until some sort of effective vaccine is developed and available to everyone.  Until that happens, it is simply not wise to gather in large crowds and risk that a fun event like a basketball game turns into a super spreader event that affects even more American families if they are exposed to this deadly virus.

But even COVID-19 cannot stop all the mock drafts and rampart speculation about who goes where and when.  The speculators abound with their guesses, good or bad, so take your pick and be sure to tune into the virtual NBA Draft on ESPN on November 18 to see who really goes where in the NBA.