With the NBA’s plans approved for resuming the season, the Milwaukee Bucks now have an idea of when the draft and free agency will take place.
Outside of the big news on Thursday being the NBA owners’ decision to approve the plan for 22 teams to participate in the resumption of the 2019-20 season at Walt Disney World, the Milwaukee Bucks and the rest of the league’s teams also got some essential clarity as to how the league calendar will shake out in the bigger picture.
At a time of year when teams would normally be ramping up preparations for the NBA Draft and free agency, instead front offices around the NBA have been busy weighing in on how the season should resume, in terms of format.
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Now, though, those preparations can become a lot more focused again as proposed dates have been revealed for the draft lottery, draft, free agency, along with a potential timeline for when the 2020-21 season could get underway.
In short, once NBA basketball does resume, teams could be in for a frantically busy few months of the kind they’ve never quite experienced before.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported details of those various key dates, noting that they aren’t necessarily set in stone at this point:
"“The league also offered dates beyond the July 31-Oct. 12 season window, with the draft lottery set on Aug. 25, the NBA draft on Oct. 15 and the 2020-21 season likely beginning Dec. 1. Sources told ESPN that free agency could begin Oct. 18, with training camps starting Nov. 10, though teams were told to consider the free-agency date as flexible.”"
The Milwaukee Bucks may find themselves having to deal with a particularly chaotic offseason following what they’ll hope will be a deep and successful playoff run.
That plan makes for an incredibly condensed offseason. The idea of the draft and free agency taking place within three days of each other, and potentially all occurring within a week of a Game 7 in the Finals, seems like a thoroughly frantic and chaotic few days for all involved and invested in the NBA.
That could make for a particularly challenging few days for the Bucks, in particular, given their status as one of the favorites to win a championship, and the outsized significance of this offseason for the franchise.
Outside of possibly selecting a player with the pick they received from the Indiana Pacers in the Malcolm Brogdon trade, which is slated for 19th overall, and dealing with the prospect of multiple key rotation players potentially hitting the open market in free agency, the Bucks will, of course, also be set to offer Giannis Antetokounmpo a five-year, supermax extension.
Depending on the outcome of the team’s playoff run, and Antetokounmpo’s decision, that week could prove to be one of the most momentous and truly significant in the franchise’s history.
One of the more surprising elements of the potential timelines laid out comes in the speedy turnaround between the two seasons. Training camps starting less than a month after when the current season could potentially finish certainly seems like a real stretch, with the intention of the NBA in those plans being to align with the Olympics and afford players the chance to represent their countries in Tokyo in the summer of 2021.
Michele Roberts, executive director of the Player Association, expressed her surprise at the proposed December 1 start date in speaking to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Thursday night. On that front, it certainly seems likely a change to that date could be forthcoming in the not too distant future.
Either way, some clarity on what lies ahead and what needs to be planned for is certainly welcome, although it could make for a really challenging and busy time for the Bucks.