Report: NBA to hold Draft Lottery on August 25, NBA Draft on October 15

The return of basketball is slowly taking shape. The NBA is looking at two key dates for the 2020 NBA Draft. The 2020 NBA Draft Lottery will be held on August 25, while the actual draft will take place on October 15, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Thursday afternoon.

The NBA is expected to meet with the Board of Governors on Thursday and commissioner Adam Silver will announce the finalized plan for a return. That plan will reportedly be a 22-team format for the playoffs, including six non-playoff teams getting a shot at the 8-seeds from each conference, per The Athletic’s Shams Charania. The plan would have the NBA returning to play on July 31.

With the lottery set for August and the Draft in October, it’s safe to say that the new calendar year won’t be flipped until at least late October. That gives us a decent idea of what the offseason could look like — a month or so and then get right back into the 2020-21 season. Usually the offseason spans July, August and then in September things start to ramp up. Many believe that Christmas Day is a target for the start of next season. If the traditional timeline tells us anything, it seems more likely that next season wouldn’t start until 2021. This could mean its shortened up or the NBA could alter the calendar altogether.