Big changes to the NBA draft landscape are coming in a new collective bargaining agreement, agreed by the NBA and the players union this month.
A joint 91-page memo sent by the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association to teams and players on Monday and obtained by ESPN highlights two important changes to the NBA draft process. , their impact will be felt for many years.
Beginning in 2024, all invited players will be required to attend and participate in the combined NBA draft, or be ineligible for enlistment until the “first next draft that a player enters.” attend and participate fully.”
Participation will include tournament medical examination, medical history sharing and biomechanical and functional movement testing, as well as strength and agility testing, shooting drills, testing performance and anthropometric measurements. Players will also be required to conduct team interviews, media circuits, player development sessions, and other assessments, as determined by the NBA in consultation with the NBPA. Players will not be forced to compete in a 5v5 scenario, often with only a handful of first-round prospects opting in.
This represents a significant shift in favor of NBA teams that have long lobbied for this rule change. In the past, agents of elite leads would often strategize to keep their customers away from less attractive franchises in the hopes of directing their players to preferred destinations. like, which would no longer be possible. This can also make draft combinations more attractive, as a large number of top leads are often chosen to forgo full participation or complete attendance.
Players who are unable to participate because of physical fitness playing with the club FIBA still in season, family tragedy, childbirth or injury, at the discretion of the association’s medical director, will be allowed to participate. Ask to complete the sections at a later date. Failure to do so will result in ineligibility to be selected on selection night.
There will be limits to the sharing of medical information between teams based on the expected draft range of the top players. For example, pick #1 is expected to only have his medical information shared with teams selected in the top 10. Players ranked 2-6 will be shared with teams in the top 15, and players ranked 7-10 with teams in the top 25, except where an injury or potentially life-threatening medical condition renders the player unfit to perform his duties as a player. a professional basketball player, following the Board of Gymnastics procedures for competition.
The NBA and NBPA will agree on a method for ranking the top 10 potential players prior to the NBA draft lottery, using a combination of publicly available rankings, a panel of designated experts, and services provided by the NBA. detective is retained.
For the first time, the participating players’ certified agents will be certified to attend the association to “push players to reach out to their representatives.”
The NBA and NBPA have also agreed to limit the ability of teams to attend agency-sponsored professional game days outside of the combined context. The pro day shall be held at a single sports facility in California or the East Coast, for a period not exceeding two days. In the past, NBA teams would spend considerable time commuting from one gym to another across the United States to attend pro day, an expensive and resource-intensive process that has been denied by the authorities. scouts despised, but did not prevent them from attending in unison.
The second major change to be made in the new CBA involves removing automatic eligibility for high school or college players signing professional contracts with organizations like G League Ignite, Overtime Elite. (OTE) or Australian NBL.
Previously, players who signed with such organizations would automatically qualify for the next NBA draft, regardless of whether they wanted to do so, as long as they turned 19 in the next year. that calendar.
Examples include Blue Jalen with Ignition, LaMelo ball in Australia, Thompson twins with OTE or fellow players who have chosen to turn pro without entering the draft, such as Efe Abogidi, who signed with G League Ignite after his second season at Washington State. Even international players, such as Dyson Danielsautomatically qualify for drafts after signing with Ignite.
G League Ignite has found a way around this restriction — for example, signing players after the start of the NBA season — but will no longer need to do so, greatly expanding the guest pool. Potential customers to include people who may need several years of development and seasoning before they are ready to maximize their draft stock.
Forcing players to automatically qualify has had various impacts on the likes of Ignite, OTE, and NBL, with some players going without training as teenagers — Daishen Nix (formerly committed to UCLA) or Michael Foster with Ignite – which has proven to be a significant deterrent for those considering a professional path after high school.
Amending these parts of the CBA means that players in the US will be able to sign professional contracts with G League Ignite, OTE or international teams and spend several years with those organizations until they choose participate in the draft at will, or turn 22 years old in the draft calendar year. This will likely have important implications for the ability of alternative pathway organizations to recruit elite prospects from high school, international destinations or university, opening up a wide range of options. for players.
Jonathan Givony is an NBA draftsman, and the founder and co-owner of DraftExpress.com, a private intelligence and analysis service used by the NBA, NCAA, and international teams.
