NBA Draft is expanding to two nights starting with this year's edition
Basketball fanatics will have another day to feast on the NBA Draft. Then again, so do general managers.
The NBA announced that it will expand its draft into a second night starting with the 2024 edition this June. While the first round will still take place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the second round will take place in ESPN's lower Manhattan studios the following evening. ESPN will still broadcast the draft in its entirety.
In addition, teams have been given more time to make their selections in the second round, from two minutes to four minutes. The five-minute clock for Round 1 is unchanged.
There's the cynical view, of course, that the NBA is trying to make a NFL-like televised spectacle out of the amateur draft, and there's a bit of truth to that.
The NFL began tweaking with the first day of its then two-day draft after the infamous 2007 draft and the longest first round in league history, a six-hour, eight-minute slog best known for coverage of Brady Quinn's "slide" from pre-draft predictions. It spread the draft into a three-day event and shortened the times between picks to speed up the proceedings.
Eventually, the league kept Day 1 of the draft for just Round 1 and splitting the remaining six rounds between Days 2 and 3.
The additional time for teams to make picks is crucial in a league where a single player can change the fortunes of a franchise for years to come. Joe Dumars, the Hall of Famer and the NBA's head of basketball operations, said that the extra minutes can make a huge difference. As told in a statement posted by The Athletic:
“Based on feedback about the NBA Draft format from basketball executives around the league and my own experience in draft rooms, we believe that teams will benefit from being able to regroup between rounds and having additional time to make decisions during the second round. Two nights of primetime coverage will also enhance the viewing experience for our fans and further showcase the draftees.”
With fewer players compared to its peer leagues, the NBA didn't necessarily have the need for an additional day, at least in the eyes of the television audience. However, there could be a benefit for basketball junkies as there's more of the league's product on our screens than ever before.
In addition to games shown on regional sports channels and ESPN, the NBA G League worked out a distribution deal with fast service Tubi, providing another showcase for future talent. With college sports conferences having their own media deals, including basketball-centric ones such as the Big East, WAC and the Atlantic 10, pro prospects already have visibility that was unheard of even a decade ago.
Talented players that have come from the second round of the draft to become mainstays in the NBA, even future back-to-back league MVPs and champions like Nikola Jokic.
Ideally, no one wants to see a potential Hall of Famer's name only come up in the middle of a Taco Bell commercial again.
More must-reads: