NBA Commissioner Adam Silver Sheds Light on New Two-Day Draft Model
The NBA is constantly evaluating potential changes to make in its processes and milestone events, with some working well and others not. We've seen significant changes to NBA All-Star Weekend, the Collective Bargaining Agreement, as well as other rules and procedures over the past several years. The NBA has also implemented a Play-In Tournament and In-Season Tournament over the past few years.
The most recent change to the league's standard schedule was altering the NBA Draft to take place over two days instead of one. Historically the draft extends late into the night, which makes it difficult for fans to stay plugged in and complicated for teams to make many difficult decisions over that several-hour span.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver addressed the changes to the draft schedule during his press conference at NBA All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis, stating two primary reasons for this alteration.
As it relates to the team side of things, this will allow them to be more strategic in their selections. Making the right picks in the second round has become increasingly important with how much talent is entering the league each season.
"We did hear from our teams that these second-round picks have become increasingly important," Silver said on Saturday night. "And their ability to reset, not just to have more time, which we've offered between picks in the second round, going from two minutes to four minutes, but, in addition, the opportunity to reset after the first round in the draft, to reassess what their needs are and have that data, consider that, was something they were very interested. That was from the team standpoint."
The popularity of the NBA Draft has come a long way, which is why the event has been in a prime time slot for many years. That hasn't always been the case, as described by the commissioner this weekend. But with how much attention the draft gets these days, there's reason to believe there's enough interest from fans to tune in both days.
"In the old, old days, the draft didn't even used to be in prime time, and we went from prime time on ESPN to prime time on ABC and ESPN," Silver explained. "Sometimes given the level of interest in this league, it seemed, frankly, a little bit silly that we were standing there at 12:30 a.m. at night calling off names for the second round of our draft. To the extent that our partner ESPN came to us and said: There is sufficient interest that, if you're interested, we think this merits prime time coverage on ESPN."
For any change the league makes, the players must give their approval as well. While Silver alluded to there being some pushback from the players, the overall feedback was positive around this two-day concept.
"For us, it was pretty straightforward. Of course we needed the Players Association agreement to do that, and it wasn't universally popular. There was some people who felt maybe we should just get it all done in one night," Silver went on to say. "But I think for me, I felt sort of combining all those different interests, the opportunity to give that additional exposure to the second-round picks, the opportunity to talk about why these picks are so valuable to teams, how deep the rosters are these days, it seemed to me like a no-brainer."
Just like any new concept or change the NBA implements, these things are always evaluated after the league has enough data to suggest whether it's working or not. This is the case for the two-day draft concept as well, which was already expected.
"Sure, we'll reevaluate after we see how it works," Silver said. "We'll get through this first draft, and then I'm sure we'll sit down with the players, we'll sit down with our partners and see whether or not it worked."
The 2024 NBA Draft will be the test case for whether or not this concept works. It makes sense in theory, as teams will get more time to make decisions in round two while fans can stay more engaged. Furthermore, this will give the players selected in the second round more of a spotlight.
In either case, this is a significant change to the draft format that could have implications long-term.
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