Starting this June, the NBA Draft will be spread over two nights, with the first round on a Wednesday (June 26, presumably) and the second round the next evening, pending the National Basketball Players Association’s approval, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. (Officially, the 2024 NBA Draft is currently scheduled for June 27, four days after a potential Game 7 of the NBA Finals.)
NBA commissioner Adam Silver more than hinted that this change was coming in an interview with SiriusXM NBA in December.
“We’re working on it,” Silver said then. “And it’s something that we have to continue to work through with our network, ESPN and ABC, which broadcasts the draft, and then of course with the players association. But I would say, having formerly been the deputy commissioner, in the role that Mark Tatum’s in now, it’s not about Mark Tatum needing sleep but to me it seems unfair to the second-round players that we’re still on the air at 12:30 or whatever in the morning Eastern Time, drafting second-round players.”
Silver referenced Nikola Jokic and Draymond Green getting drafted in the second round — the former was selected while the television broadcast was airing a Taco Bell commercial — and said that, with the “large, global pool” of talent and great interest in the draft, “both rounds deserve prime time.”
He also noted that teams would have an opportunity to “reset” in between the two days and have more time to deliberate before making their second-round picks. Under the current format, teams have only two minutes in between second-round picks, as opposed to a five-minute window in the first round.
“To me, it essentially seems like a no-brainer,” Silver said.
