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The NBA offseason started in mid-October and we’ve been rolling right on into the 2020-21 season. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the NBA offseason schedule has been crammed into a small window. The 2020 NBA Draft took place on Wednesday with the Minnesota Timberwolves selecting Anthony Edwards No. 1 overall. Since the season is set to start on Dec. 22 with training camps beginning on Dec. 1, the free agency window was moved up to right after the draft.
NBA free agency will begin on Friday at 6:00 p.m. ET with the interview period. Players will be allowed to talk to interested teams before deciding who to sign with. After that, the window for players to sign contracts opens on Sunday after noon ET. With that date landing on Nov. 22, there’s essentially a little over a week for players to choose which team to sign with before training camp begins on Dec. 1. This means we could see a pretty rapid-fire free agency period starting this weekend.
The 2020 free agency class can be describe as underwhelming. Things could have gotten more interesting had the Lakers not won a championship and Anthony Davis had a reason to enter unrestricted free agency. Instead, Davis is expected to opt out and re-sign with the Lakers on a new deal. DeMar DeRozan picked up his player option with the Spurs. Brandon Ingram might get an offer sheet, but chances are the Pelicans will match. So there aren’t many big names expected to hit the open market.
Some of the notable names are Fred VanVleet, Hassan Whiteside, Paul Millsap, Montrezl Harrell and Goran Dragic. Again, this free agent class is pretty lackluster. Davis Bertans and Joe Harris might get some attention for their shooting abilities. Christian Wood and Tristan Thompson are a few bigs who could sign decent sized deals. Mostly, there are a ton of veterans who could make an impact as complimentary pieces on contending teams but we also should see a lot of short-term contracts to set teams up with cap space once the number increases in the future.
Here we’ll have all the NBA free agency news and updates throughout the weekend.