The remainder of the NBA's 2020 calendar is coming into focus. We already know that the season is set to resume in Orlando at the end of July and run through mid-October when a champion will be crowned. It's now become clear when the 2020 NBA Draft and free agency period will take place. The NBA has elected to hold the draft on Oct. 16 and begin free agency on Oct. 18, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. Free agent negotiations can begin at 6 p.m. ET on Oct. 18; any earlier would be considered tampering. Meanwhile, the moratorium period on deals will reportedly run between Oct. 19-23.
The draft was originally scheduled for June 25 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, while free agency would've begun on June 30. However, the NBA shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic pushed the entire calendar back several months. There was some speculation that the league could potentially start free agency before the draft, but that won't be the case. Instead, the calendar as currently constructed will allow the league to keep their main offseason events in their usual order.
If the 2020 NBA Finals reach seven games, Game 7 will be played on Oct. 13. This would leave very little time between the end of the season, the draft and then free agency. The offseason as a whole will be truncated, as the league is looking to begin the 2020-21 season in December.
The 2020 NBA free agent class doesn't have the same star power that we saw the past couple of years when players like LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, and Kyrie Irving all switched squads after hitting the open market. But with that said, there will still be a ton of talent available over the offseason. All-Stars like Anthony Davis and Brandon Ingram will be on the market, and a plethora of other players -- guys like Gordon Hayward and Hassan Whiteside -- will also have an opportunity to boost their stock with a solid showing in Orlando.
