Four takeaways from the NBA's decision to postpone the Draft Lottery and Combine

Adam Silver said May would be the start of the major decisions the NBA has to make about the current season and upcoming offseason calendar. That process began on Friday, as the league announced that the NBA Draft Lottery and NBA Draft Combine have both been postponed indefinitely. The two events were both scheduled to take place in Chicago later this month.

In a media release, the NBA said more information on each event will be shared at a later date as the league continues to closely monitor the coronavirus pandemic and consult with infectious disease specialists, public health experts and government officials.

So what exactly can we take away from this expected delay from a big-picture perspective? A few takeaways on the potential impact on this coming offseason, NCAA prospects and how the Celtics could be affected.

1. The NBA is still hoping to play more regular-season games before a potential postseason begins: This scenario may not be possible depending on how long it takes for the league to be cleared by health officials for a return, combined with the ramp-up time that will be needed for players to get back into shape. However, a potential rationale for holding the draft lottery as scheduled (or with a slight delay) would be the realization that the NBA regular season is likely over (i.e. freezing the current standings in place so proper lottery odds could be distributed among non-playoff teams). Moving the lottery back is a clear signal that ending the regular season outright is a last resort option for the league. While the NBA Draft has not been officially postponed yet (scheduled for June) that’s all but a certainty now, as well with no league play even possible at this point before July. The NBA Draft in all likelihood will land in August or September (whenever any regular season is expected to conclude). The draft technically could happen in the midst of the postseason since the draft order is based on the regular-season standings, but it's highly likely any playoff teams would object to having to pick huge parts of their future before knowing the final performance of their current roster.

2. The NCAA is going to have to re-adjust some rules involving early-entry candidates: Currently, the NCAA allows players to withdrawal from the NBA Draft pool up to 10 days after the draft combine (previously scheduled to be June 3rd). Generally, it’s a crucial time for prospects to get some evaluation from pro scouts about their potential and draft outlook before making a decision on whether to remain in the draft pool or not. The general thinking here would be to simply move the withdrawal deadline to 10 days after whenever the combine is rescheduled for (i.e. later this summer or fall). However, changing the calendar by that much would put college coaches in a serious bind as they head into their season with a lot of uncertainty about how many roster spots they have open. The NCAA has not been kind to college prospects in the past with these types of rules, but a challenging choice about players for their future could get even tougher if the league decides a withdrawal deadline needs to happen before the draft combine or in-person workouts are cleared to occur.

3. The Celtics would be impacted by revamped lottery procedures for the 2019-20 season: This decision will be largely dependent on what type of schedule the NBA agrees to if the 2019-20 season resumes. A play-in tournament for the final two seeds in both conferences would open the door for the Grizzlies to fall out of the playoff picture in the West. With a full regular season being completed all but a pipe dream at this point, the Grizzlies (3.5 game lead in West for No. 8 seed) seem like a lock to hold onto their playoff spot if no postseason play-in tournament is held. The other variable could come with the league revamped lottery odds to account for a shortened season that extends to bottom-tier playoff squads (i.e. teams that could have fallen out of the race in a 82-game campaign). The Celtics probably wouldn’t stand to benefit more than a few draft slots in this scenario with their 2020 first-round Memphis pick (top-7 protected) but the postponement of the draft lottery signals these possibilities are on the table, a welcome sign for Boston.

4. A December start to the 2020-21 season feels more likely than ever: Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com reported on Friday that this new calendar was a topic of discussion in the Board of Governors meeting. It’s an idea that was already thrown around at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference by Hawks ownership back in March as a way to separate the NBA and NFL calendar more. With the likelihood that any resumption of the NBA season won’t finish up until September or even October this year (depending on the length of the postseason), the NBA is expected to get a trial run at a potential Christmas start date with the league year extending to July or August. The odds may increase that fans could be allowed back in arenas by 2021 at that point, depending on how many inroads are made by health officials with testing and/or a vaccine. A revamped calendar would also push the NBA Draft and free agency to August or September in 2021, putting them squarely up against the start of the NFL season. At that point, a short offseason in 2021 could put the league back on their usual schedule for 2021-22 (October start) or a permanent shift could take place to a calendar that coincides with the end of the NFL season moving forward.