2020 NBA draft | |
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General information | |
Sport | Basketball |
Date(s) | November 18, 2020 |
Location | ESPN Studios, Bristol, Connecticut (draft held via conference call) |
Network(s) | |
Overview | |
60 total selections in 2 rounds | |
League | NBA |
First selection | Anthony Edwards (Minnesota Timberwolves) |
The 2020 NBA draft was held on November 18, 2020. The draft was originally scheduled to be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on June 25, but due to the ongoing at the time COVID-19 pandemic, it was instead conducted at ESPN's facilities in Bristol, Connecticut, with the event held via videoconferencing. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur United States college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. It was televised nationally on ESPN. The draft lottery was originally scheduled to take place on May 19, 2020, but due in part to the 2020 NBA Bubble, it was rescheduled to take place on August 20, 2020, instead. [1] This was the first draft since 1975 to not be held in June and was also the second to be done later than that month after the inaugural 1947 draft, which was conducted in July by the NBA's predecessor, the Basketball Association of America (BAA). This draft also featured the lack of a proper "green room" due to pandemic restrictions. The first pick was made by the Minnesota Timberwolves, who selected Anthony Edwards out of Georgia.
PG | Point guard | SG | Shooting guard | SF | Small forward | PF | Power forward | C | Center |
* | Denotes player who has been selected for at least one All-Star Game and All-NBA Team |
+ | Denotes player who has been selected for at least one All-Star Game |
x | Denotes player who has been selected for at least one All-NBA Team |
# | Denotes player who has never appeared in an NBA regular season or playoff game |
~ | Denotes player who has been selected as Rookie of the Year |
These players were not selected in the 2020 NBA draft, but have played at least one regular season or postseason game in the NBA.
Prior to the day of the draft, the following trades were made and resulted in exchanges of draft picks between the teams.
Draft-day trades will be made on the day of the draft.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that started earlier in the year, the invitation-only NBA Draft Combine and the event's on-court elements was held in multiple phases, lasting from September 28 until November 16, two days before the draft began. [68] For the first part, players began their league and team interviews via videoconference feeds, similar to this year's draft lottery. This segment lasted from September 28 until October 16. Then, in the second part, players began their individual, on-court programs at the NBA team facility nearest the player's home or interim residence instead of at one standardized area. While players were allowed to continue working out on their own even back in September 2020, this section lasted from October 16 until November 16. This program included strength and agility tests, anthropometric measurements, shooting drills, medical testing and examinations, and a "Pro Day" video filmed via HomeCourt, a mobile basketball training application. The NBA also expanded their Combine HQ tool for this period. While the NBA disallowed their own staff members to be involved with these workouts in person (either in the team's own practice facilities or nearby the player himself) at first, they eventually relaxed some of these restrictions to include up to three team executives meeting with a player they're interested in personally, as well as allowed a player to workout with multiple teams at the same time in their own towns. The NBA also gave a limit of 10 meetings total with the candidates there, with any extra meetings with someone cutting into their amount allowed for this year.
At the start of this year's draft combine, only 60 prospects were confirmed to participate in this event. [69] The top, headlining prospect involved with this combine is LaMelo Ball, an automatically eligible draft prospect that gained fame as a professional player both nationally and overseas years earlier after skipping his junior year of high school and was a top-3 selection for the draft. [70] In addition to him, R. J. Hampton was also invited as an automatically eligible draft prospect for this year, both representing Australia's NBL as outsider Rising Stars for different teams. Other notable invites include five fully international prospects (Deni Avdija, Killian Hayes, Théo Maledon, Paul Eboua, and Karim Mané, the last of whom played in a Canadian CEGEP), two high school postgraduates (Kenyon Martin Jr. and Josh Hall), and Jay Scrubb, a junior college prospect. Like with prior years, players still held the option to either sit out the combine or have only limited participation there, such as with LaMelo Ball doing interviews with teams only. For the first half of the combine, each participant was given a standard set of 10 questions to answer in front of each team asking them, as well as league officials under a half-hour setting, with players being allowed to interview as many teams as possible. In the second half of the combine, teams were allowed to meet with any candidate that had mutual interest in them back, though each team had a set limit of meetings with players in mind before the draft began. These meetings with players allowed teams to properly gauge each player to the best of their abilities during this time.
External videos | |
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2020 NBA Draft Lottery Drawing, NBA's official YouTube channel. August 20, 2020. |
The NBA draft lottery is held annually to determine the draft order for the teams that did not make the playoffs in the preceding season. Every NBA team that missed the NBA playoffs holds a chance at winning a top-four pick, but teams with worse records have a better chance at winning a top-four pick, effective as of the 2019 draft. [71] After the lottery selects the teams that receive a top-four pick, the other teams receive an NBA draft pick based on their winning percentage from the prior season. As it is commonplace in the event of identical win–loss records, the NBA performs a random drawing to break ties for not just lottery teams, but also for playoff teams with equal records. This year, the Sacramento Kings won a tiebreaker for the draft lottery over the New Orleans Pelicans despite having a better overall record to conclude the regular season, bubble games included.
The lottery was originally scheduled to take place on May 19 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the length of the 2019–20 season's suspension. On July 21, 2020, the lottery was rescheduled for August 20. [72] The lottery teams included the eight teams that did not play in the resumed 2019–20 NBA season in July and August: the Golden State Warriors, Cleveland Cavaliers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Atlanta Hawks, Detroit Pistons, New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls, and Charlotte Hornets. They also included the other six teams that missed the playoffs in the resumed season: the Washington Wizards, Phoenix Suns, San Antonio Spurs, Sacramento Kings, New Orleans Pelicans, and Memphis Grizzlies, with seeding completely based on the teams' records from March 12, 2020. [73] The new lottery still took place in the United Center, but all guests representing the teams in the lottery attended virtually instead through video communication feeds. [74] This year, two of the bottom three teams (Minnesota and Golden State) received the top two selections, while Charlotte and Chicago both jumped up into the top four. Teams that resumed their seasons remained at their initial positions set at the time, with Memphis moving down to the 14th selection after initially being set for a playoff spot.
Denotes the actual lottery result |
Team | 2019–20 record | Lottery chances | Lottery probabilities | |||||||||||||
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1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | 11th | 12th | 13th | 14th | |||
Golden State Warriors | 15–50 | 140 | 0.140 | 0.134 | 0.127 | 0.120 | 0.479 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Cleveland Cavaliers | 19–46 | 140 | 0.140 | 0.134 | 0.127 | 0.120 | 0.278 | 0.200 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Minnesota Timberwolves | 19–45 | 140 | 0.140 | 0.134 | 0.127 | 0.120 | 0.148 | 0.260 | 0.070 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Atlanta Hawks | 20–47 | 125 | 0.125 | 0.122 | 0.119 | 0.115 | 0.072 | 0.257 | 0.167 | 0.022 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Detroit Pistons | 20–46 | 105 | 0.105 | 0.105 | 0.106 | 0.105 | 0.022 | 0.196 | 0.267 | 0.087 | 0.006 | — | — | — | — | — |
New York Knicks | 21–45 | 90 | 0.090 | 0.092 | 0.094 | 0.096 | — | 0.086 | 0.298 | 0.206 | 0.037 | 0.001 | — | — | — | — |
Chicago Bulls | 22–43 | 75 | 0.075 | 0.078 | 0.081 | 0.085 | — | — | 0.197 | 0.341 | 0.129 | 0.013 | 0.000 | — | — | — |
Charlotte Hornets | 23–42 | 60 | 0.060 | 0.063 | 0.067 | 0.072 | — | — | — | 0.345 | 0.321 | 0.068 | 0.004 | 0.000 | — | — |
Washington Wizards | 24–40 (25–47) [1] | 45 | 0.045 | 0.048 | 0.052 | 0.057 | — | — | — | — | 0.507 | 0.259 | 0.030 | 0.001 | 0.000 | — |
Phoenix Suns | 26–39 (34–39) [1] | 30 | 0.030 | 0.033 | 0.036 | 0.040 | — | — | — | — | — | 0.659 | 0.190 | 0.012 | 0.000 | 0.000 |
San Antonio Spurs | 27–36 (32–39) [1] | 20 | 0.020 | 0.022 | 0.025 | 0.028 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0.776 | 0.126 | 0.004 | 0.000 |
Sacramento Kings | 28–36 (31–41) [1] | 13 | 0.013 | 0.014 | 0.016 | 0.018 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0.861 | 0.076 | 0.001 |
New Orleans Pelicans | 28–36 (30–42) [1] | 12 | 0.012 | 0.013 | 0.015 | 0.017 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0.920 | 0.023 |
Memphis Grizzlies [2] | 32–33 (34–39) [1] | 5 | 0.005 | 0.006 | 0.006 | 0.007 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0.976 |
^ 1: The first record was the team's record as of March 12, 2020. The second record includes the team's eight bubble games , which were not used in determining lottery placements.
^ 2: The Memphis Grizzlies' pick was conveyed to the Boston Celtics since their selection stayed at pick 14, outside of the top 4.
The draft is conducted under the eligibility rules established in the league's 2017 collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with its players' union. The previous CBA that ended the 2011 lockout instituted no immediate changes to the draft, but called for a committee of owners and players to discuss future changes.
The NBA has since expanded the draft combine to include players with remaining college eligibility (who, like players without college eligibility, can only attend by invitation). [76]
Players who are not automatically eligible have to declare their eligibility for the draft by notifying the NBA offices in writing no later than at least 60 days before the event. For the 2020 draft, the date fell on April 26 at first, but the deadline was postponed indefinitely and moved to August 17. After that date, "early entry" players are able to attend NBA pre-draft camps and individual team workouts to show off their skills and obtain feedback regarding their draft positions. Under the CBA a player may withdraw his name from consideration from the draft at any time before the final declaration date, which is 10 days before. Under current NCAA rules, players have until 10 days after the draft combine to withdraw from the draft and retain college eligibility; however, due to COVID-19 disruptions, the NCAA announced that for the 2020 draft, the withdrawal deadline would be changed to 10 days after the combine or August 3, whichever came first. [77]
A player who has hired an agent retains his remaining college eligibility regardless of whether he is drafted after an evaluation from the NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee. Underclassmen who declare for the NBA draft and are not selected have the opportunity to return to their school for at least another year only after terminating all agreements with their agents, who must have been certified no later than August 1, 2020. [78]
This year, 205 underclassed draft prospects (i.e., players with remaining college eligibility) had declared by the initial April 26 deadline, with 163 of these players being from college or were high school postgraduates. [79] The names left over mean they have hired an agent, or have announced that they plan to do so before the night of the draft. At the end of either the August 3 deadline (or the other one which was 10 days post-combine), 71 players declared their intentions to enter the draft with an agent, while 92 announced their return to college for at least one more season (or enter college in the case of Makur Maker). Additionally, one more academy postgraduate student managed to enter at the new underclassman deadline. [80] Furthermore, three different underclassmen that were confirmed at the time (Jermaine Bishop, Isiaha Mike, and Filip Petrušev) all signed overseas contracts in Europe while waiting for this year's draft to begin, though they still remained listed under their colleges they played for before beginning the draft process as opposed to the new teams and leagues they signed for; [81] [82] Petrušev later withdrew from the draft on November 8, 2020 to stay with his new team, the Mega Soccerbet in Serbia, initially leaving the final number of underclassmen students entering the draft at 71 (69 excluding Bishop and Mike). [83] At the November 8 deadline, Tony Goodwin II also withdrew his name from the draft, though Nikolaos Okekuoyen (a Greek-Nigerian postgraduate student from Ridgeview Prep) was approved for the draft that day, which still left the number of players at 71 by that time. [84]
International players that declared this year and did not previously declare in another prior year can drop out about 10 days before the 2020 draft, which was November 8 this year. By the initial April 26 deadline, 42 international prospects, including one from a Canadian CEGEP (Quebecer college), expressed interest in this draft. [79] By the end of the deadline set in August, seven of these players pulled their names out, [80] leaving only 35 prospects, later adding one more player from a Canadian preparatory academy who also entered at that deadline. With Sergi Martínez & Joel Parra also dropping out of the draft before the draft deadline concluded, but after the official announcement came out, [85] this officially brought the final number of underclassmen available down to 84 players instead of 86, with 23 international players exiting the draft by November this year instead of 21. [84]
Players who do not meet the criteria for "international" players are automatically eligible if they meet any of the following criteria: [86]
Players who meet the criteria for "international" players are automatically eligible if they meet any of the following criteria: [86]
Player | Team | Note | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|
Terry Armstrong | South East Melbourne Phoenix (Australia) | Did not attend college; began playing professionally since the 2019–20 season | [87] |
LaMelo Ball | Illawarra Hawks (Australia) | Did not attend college; began playing professionally since the 2017–18 season | [88] |
Sam Froling | Illawarra Hawks (Australia) | Left Creighton in 2019; began playing professionally since the 2019–20 season | [89] |
R. J. Hampton | New Zealand Breakers (New Zealand) | Did not attend college; began playing professionally since the 2019–20 season | [90] |
/ Sacha Killeya-Jones | MKS Dąbrowa Górnicza (Poland) | Left Kentucky in 2018; began playing professionally since the 2018–19 season Played for the BC Kalev/Cramo in Estonia during 2019–20 before signing with a new team in July 2020 | [91] |
Alex Mudronja | Adelaide 36ers (Australia) | Left Saint Mary's in 2019; began playing professionally since the 2019–20 season | [92] |
/ Kouat Noi | Cairns Taipans (Australia) | Left TCU in 2019; began playing professionally since the 2019–20 season | [93] |
Kai Toews | Utsunomiya Brex (Japan) | Left UNC Wilmington in 2019; began playing professionally since the 2019–20 season | [94] |
The 2004 NBA draft was held on June 24, 2004, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City, and was broadcast live on ESPN at 7:00 pm (EDT). In this draft, National Basketball Association teams took turns selecting amateur college basketball players and other first-time eligible players. The NBA announced that 56 college and high school players and 38 international players had filed as early-entry candidates for the 2004 draft. On May 26, the NBA draft lottery was conducted for the teams that did not make the NBA playoffs in the 2003–04 NBA season. The Orlando Magic, who had a 25 percent chance of obtaining the first selection, won the lottery, while the Los Angeles Clippers and the Chicago Bulls were second and third respectively. As an expansion team, the Charlotte Bobcats had been assigned the fourth selection in the draft and did not participate in the lottery. The Minnesota Timberwolves forfeited their first-round pick due to salary cap violations.
The 1984 NBA draft was the 37th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). It was held at the Felt Forum at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, on June 19, 1984, before the 1984–85 season. The draft is generally considered to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, in NBA history, with four Hall of Famers being drafted in the first sixteen picks and five overall. It included first pick Akeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and John Stockton. The draft was broadcast in the United States on the USA Network.
The 2006 NBA draft was held on June 28, 2006, at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City and was broadcast in the United States on ESPN. In this draft, National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. This was also the only time the New Orleans Hornets would draft under the temporary name of the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets as the city of New Orleans was still recovering from the events of Hurricane Katrina after the 2005-06 NBA season.
The 2007 NBA draft was held on June 28, 2007, at the WaMu Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. It was broadcast on television in 115 countries. In this draft, National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players.
The 2008 NBA Draft was held on June 26, 2008, at the Washington Mutual Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. In this draft, National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur college basketball players and other first-time eligible players, including international players from non-North American professional leagues. According to the NBA, 44 players, 39 collegiate players and five international players, filed as early-entry candidates for the 2008 NBA Draft. These numbers do not include players who are automatically eligible for the draft. The Chicago Bulls, who had a 1.7 percent probability of obtaining the first selection, won the NBA draft lottery on May 22. The Bulls' winning of the lottery was the second-largest upset in NBA Draft Lottery history behind the Orlando Magic, who won it in 1993 with just a 1.5% chance. The Miami Heat and the Minnesota Timberwolves obtained the second and third picks respectively.
The 2009 NBA draft was held on June 25, 2009, at the WaMu Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In this draft, the National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players.
The 2010 NBA draft was held on June 24, 2010, at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The draft, which started at 7:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time, was broadcast in the United States on ESPN. In this draft, National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. This draft set a record with five players being drafted from the same school in the first round. The players were John Wall (first), DeMarcus Cousins (fifth), Patrick Patterson (fourteenth), Eric Bledsoe (eighteenth), and Daniel Orton (twenty-ninth), all from the University of Kentucky. This draft also marked the second time an NBA D-League player was drafted, with the first case coming in 2008.
The original Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA) were established in 1988 as an expansion team, based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The team's roster was filled with unprotected players at the 1988 NBA Expansion Draft, and five days later the Hornets made their first picks out of college players at the 1988 NBA draft. The Hornets remained in Charlotte for 14 seasons before relocating to New Orleans in 2002. Two years after the Hornets' departure, the Charlotte Bobcats were established in 2004. The Bobcats first participated in the 2004 NBA draft, two days after their expansion draft was held. The franchise's name was changed back to the Hornets at the conclusion of the 2013–14 season, one year after the team in Louisiana renamed itself the New Orleans Pelicans. The history and records of the original Charlotte Hornets were conveyed to the newly named Charlotte Hornets.
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The 2012 NBA draft was held on June 28, 2012, at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The draft started at 7:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time, and was broadcast in the United States on ESPN. In this draft, National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. The New Orleans Hornets, who had a 13.70 percent probability of obtaining the first selection, won the NBA draft lottery on May 30. The Charlotte Bobcats and the Washington Wizards were second and third, respectively. This draft marked the first time that the first two players selected were from the same school. It also set a record of having six players from one school (Kentucky) being selected in the two rounds of the draft and was the first draft to have the first three selections be college freshmen all from the same conference. Bernard James was the oldest player drafted in an NBA draft, being 27 years old at the time of the draft.
The 2014 NBA draft was held on June 26, 2014, at Barclays Center, Brooklyn. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. The draft lottery took place on May 7, 2014. The Cleveland Cavaliers won the draft lottery to earn the first overall pick in the draft; this is the fourth number-one pick for Cleveland since 2003 and third number-one pick over a four-year span from 2011 to 2014. This draft would also be the first for the reborn Charlotte Hornets, who played as the Bobcats from 2004 to 2014, since 2001, when the original Charlotte Hornets last selected as the Charlotte Hornets before moving to New Orleans and eventually becoming the current New Orleans Pelicans.
The 2013 NBA draft was held on June 27, 2013, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. State Farm was the presenting sponsor. The lottery took place on May 21, 2013. This was the first draft for New Orleans under their new Pelicans name after playing as the New Orleans Hornets previously. It would also be the last draft for the Charlotte Bobcats under their old name, as they resumed playing under their old Hornets moniker that they last used in 2002 once the 2013–14 NBA season was over. Anthony Bennett, the first pick in the draft, had a very limited amount of media outlets considering him as a potential #1 pick in the draft. He bounced around the league and then was finally released by the Brooklyn Nets in January 2017 after averaging just 5.2 PPG.
The 2015 NBA draft was held on June 25, 2015, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. It was televised nationally in the U.S. by ESPN. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. The draft lottery took place on May 19, 2015.
The 2016 NBA draft was held on June 23, 2016, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. It was televised nationally in the U.S. by ESPN, and was live streamed for the first time in NBA draft history by The Vertical. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. The draft lottery took place during the playoffs, on May 17, 2016. This was the first time since the lottery system was introduced in 1985 that all NBA teams that missed out on the playoffs remained in the exact spots they were designated, meaning the 10-win/72-loss Philadelphia 76ers received the No. 1 pick, the Los Angeles Lakers kept the No. 2 pick, the Boston Celtics via the Brooklyn Nets got the No. 3 pick, and everyone else stayed in their same spots based on the regular season standings from the 2015–16 season.
The 2017 NBA draft was held on June 22, 2017, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players.
The 2018 NBA Draft was held on June 21, 2018, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur United States college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. It was televised nationally by ESPN. State Farm was the presenting sponsor of the NBA draft for the seventh consecutive year. This draft was the last to use the original weighted lottery system that gave teams near the bottom of the NBA draft better odds at the top three picks of the draft while teams higher up had worse odds in the process; the rule was agreed upon by the NBA on September 28, 2017, but would not be implemented until the 2019 draft. It was also considered the final year where undrafted college underclassmen were forced to begin their professional careers early; on August 8, 2018, the NCAA announced that players who declared for the NBA draft and were not selected would have the opportunity to return to their school for at least another year. With the last year of what was, at the time, the most recent lottery system, the Phoenix Suns won the first overall pick on May 15, 2018, with the Sacramento Kings at the second overall pick and the Atlanta Hawks at third overall pick. The Suns' selection was their first No. 1 overall selection in franchise history. They used the selection on the Bahamian center Deandre Ayton from the nearby University of Arizona.
The 2019 NBA draft was held on June 20, 2019. It took place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur United States college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. It was televised nationally on ESPN. State Farm was the presenting sponsor of the NBA draft for the eighth consecutive year. This draft was the first to feature a new weighted lottery system in which the three worst teams each had a 14 percent chance of winning the lottery; these teams were the New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Phoenix Suns. The lottery took place on May 14, during the NBA playoffs. Three of the four teams who held the top four picks of the draft this year rose up from at least six spots in the lottery, including the New Orleans Pelicans, who won the first pick with 6 percent odds. The Pelicans used that pick on Duke forward Zion Williamson . After Williamson, his Duke teammates R.J. Barrett and Cam Reddish was drafted in the top 10 as part of the Big 3 from Duke. This draft included the first Japanese player to be selected in the first round, as well as the first Angolan player to be selected.
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