The NBA has tinkered with the draft lottery in recent years, mainly to discourage tanking.
The draft itself has gone relatively untouched for decades. The NBA switched to a two-round format in 1989 with all the picks being made in one frenzied night.
The second round often runs past midnight Eastern time and by then, most NBA fans have already tuned out and turned in for the night.
With a nod toward the NFL, which stretches its draft across three days, the NBA is expected to change to a two-night format. The Players Association still must sign off on the proposal, but that seems likely.
Front office executives should benefit from the alteration. There is usually a flurry of activity in the second round and now the deal-makers will have more time to map out their strategies and ponder what moves they need to make. They’ll also have more time to decide which undrafted prospects they might look to add to their summer league teams and training camp rosters.
It’s unknown whether more time will be allotted between first-round picks but at least it should end at a more reasonable hour. The change could be nerve-wracking for prospects who are borderline first-round picks and second-rounders, since they might have to go through an extra night of suspense to find out if their names are called.
Considering most of the suspense of the NBA draft comes during the lottery, it’s also fair to wonder whether holding the second round on the following night will draw much of a TV audience.
That brings us to our topic of the day: What do you think of the NBA possibly switching to a two-night format for the annual draft?
Please take to the comments section to weigh on this topic. We look forward to your input.
why would any TV station pay for, or a viewer care about.. the second round of the NBA draft? Even the commissioner stops showing up by then? lol
How about the second round also gets a lottery?
But the lottery is drawn at the start of the second night..
The NBA draft is only 2 rounds, not 7. Majority of the 2nd round picks aren’t immediate impactful players anyways so therefore doesn’t garner as much interest except for the avid fan.
How about the NBA fixes the confusion with the draft? How about if a team trades a pick, the player drafted can be introduced as the team he’s actually being drafted to play for and not whomever originally owned the pick?? That’s the problem, that’s where you’re loosing viewers, because it’s too difficult to understand and keep up for the average fan.
Fix what’s broken, not what’s not. Keep the draft on 1 night and announce players for the correct drafting team. Done.
Second rounders aren’t impactful. Have you heard of Nikola Jokic, Khris Middleton, Mark Gasol, Draymond Green, Dennis Rodman, Manu Ginobili, etc. These players were all drafted in the second round.
They better actually feature the second round prospects being drafted. No more commercials during future mvps getting picked.
This should happen, because the reason the commercials plays during the 2nd round is because it is so quick that they have to get some of the draft time to put on ads to make money. With more time, there should be plenty to have ads and not interrupt the picking
I love the idea, the second round is usually way too late at night and I think teams can benefit a lot from having more time to make the picks.
This isnt about viewership, the 2nd round viewership nowadays is probably tiny and it will continue that way, this is about helping the teams and more interested/die-hard fans can have a better experience watching it.
The second round is much more important today because of the G-League. Teams develop their players in this league.