The NBA is on its way back after its board of governors approved the plan for a return to play this summer. What that also means is players who declared for the NBA Draft now had a better idea of the timeline for when they will have a chance to hear their name called. That obviously includes former Arizona players Nico Mannion, Josh Green and Zeke Nnaji who all declared for the draft earlier this spring after just one season with the Wildcats.
The NBA Draft, which is normally held in late June, will now take place in October with the lottery to happen in August. The NBA Draft Combine is still in question at this stage and it remains unclear if that will actually even take place this year or not. If the typical timeline is in play it would mean the combine would happen sometime in late August.
The issue is that some players, although not any of Arizona's, have still kept their eligibility intact up to this point and theoretically could come back to school. Yet, the calendar set up by the NBA could overlap with the start of the fall semester putting players in an interesting position since under the usual timeline players would theoretically have until early September to withdraw their names from the NBA Draft.
So it's a bit of a mess that fortunately for Arizona won't impact the program since all three of the early entrants have signed with agents already and are not coming back to school. It could impact some other programs in the Pac-12, however. It also means there will be a huge gap for players like Mannion, Green and Nnaji between their last game and the NBA Draft.
Should they be drafted, all three players would not play their first NBA game until Dec. 1 meaning there would be nearly nine months between the time the finished their UA careers and begin the next phase. A huge layoff.
UPDATE: The NCAA announced this afternoon that the new deadline to withdraw from the NBA Draft will be 10 days after the NBA Combine or Aug. 3, whichever day comes first.
“This provides the utmost flexibility to student-athletes testing the waters to make the most informed decision about their future during this uncertain time,” NCAA Senior Vice President for Basketball Dan Gavitt said in a statement released by the NCAA. “And by deciding before classes start for the fall semester, it also encourages student-athletes who choose to return to school to be fully engaged in their academic pursuits and the tremendous experience and opportunity to play college basketball.”
