The NBA's revenue streams have been greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and team owners are looking to do better next season with the view that the global health crisis remains in effect. With that in mind, league personalities are reportedly pushing for the delay of the free agency and the opening for next season.
The 2020 free agency is set to commence on October 16 or just a few days after the NBA Finals. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, league officials and the NBPA are considering the push back of key NBA events to better assess the financial perspective for the upcoming season.
If the plan will play out, the free agency will be pushed back a few weeks and the move could impact the scheduled NBA draft.
"There is interest in connecting the mid-October draft and free-agency periods so that they could be delayed together," Clutch Points reported Wojnarowski as saying.
It is understood that with the delay, the league will be in a better position to determine the parameters of the salary cap and the salary tax for Season 2020-21. In doing so, team owners and players can best make the necessary adjustments for the NBA games next season to generate revenues, which will certainly take a nosedive in the current team.
Also in consideration is the likely delay of the season-opening that has been tentatively set on December 1. The players' union is more inclined to see the season start at a later date, targeting January or February as a more suitable start of the campaign.
The planned push-back makes sense as the same report noted that this year's free agency will be mostly without the exciting movements seen in previous editions. While Anthony Davis could opt to become a free agent in the offseason, he is expected to re-sign with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Delaying too will benefit teams like the Golden State Warriors, according to NBC Sports.
More time for the Dub will translate to a wider room to maneuver on the roster improvements plotted by the organization's front office. The Warriors are set to get a top pick in the draft and the team will likely make use of the delay to better decide on how to capitalize on the draft privilege.
Also, the Warriors are expected to shoot for the title next season and would want the games to be played with spectators in attendance even in limited implementation. This can be made possible if more factors will be known in the months to come, which the delay could afford.
So it came as no surprise that team and owners and the players are working together to ask for more time on how the NBA events and the league itself will play out next season. They acknowledged that knowing the important facts before playing is good business.
