2020 NBA draft
The 2020 NBA draft will be held on October 16, 2020 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association teams will take turns selecting amateur United States college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. It will be televised nationally on ESPN. The draft lottery was originally scheduled to take place on May 19, 2020, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it has been postponed to August 20, 2020. This is the first draft since 1975 to not be held in June, and also the second to be done later than that month, after the inaugural 1947 draft, conducted in July by the NBA's predecessor, the Basketball Association of America.
Trades involving draft picks
Pre-draft trades
Prior to the day of the draft, the following trades were made and resulted in exchanges of draft picks between the teams. Trade details to follow.Draft-day trades
Draft-day trades will be made on the day of the draft.Combine
The invitation-only NBA Draft Combine and its on-court element will be held virtually soon.Draft lottery
The NBA conducts an annual lottery to determine the draft order for the teams that did not make the playoffs in the preceding season. Every NBA team that missed the NBA playoffs have a chance at winning a top four pick, but teams with worse records have a better chance at winning a top four pick, effective as of the 2019 draft. After the lottery selects the teams that receive a top four pick, the other teams receive an NBA draft pick based on their winning percentage from the prior season. As it is commonplace in the event of identical win-loss records, the NBA will perform a random drawing to break the ties. The lottery was to have taken place in May at United Center in Chicago, Illinois, but was postponed. On July 21, 2020, the lottery was rescheduled for August 20. The lottery teams will be the eight teams that do not play in the resumed 2019–20 NBA season, which are the Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Atlanta Hawks, Chicago Bulls, Charlotte Hornets, and Minnesota Timberwolves. The other six teams will be the six teams that miss the playoffs in the resumed season. However, those six teams cannot have a higher pick than those eight teams who missed the resumed season. The new lottery will take place in United Center.Eligibility and entrants
The draft is conducted under the eligibility rules established in the league's 2017 collective bargaining agreement with its player's union. The previous CBA that ended the 2011-12 lockout instituted no immediate changes to the draft, but called for a committee of owners and players to discuss future changes.- All drafted players must be at least 19 years old during the calendar year of the draft. In terms of dates, players who are eligible for the 2020 draft must be born on or before December 31, 2001.
- Since the 2016 draft, the following rules, as implemented by the NCAA Division I council for that division, are:
- *Declaration for the draft no longer results in automatic loss of college eligibility. As long as a player does not sign a contract with a professional team outside the NBA, or sign with an agent, he will retain college eligibility as long as he makes a timely withdrawal from the draft.
- *NCAA players now have until 10 days after the end of the NBA Draft Combine to withdraw from the draft. Since the combine is held in mid-May, the current deadline is about five weeks after the previous mid-April deadline.
- *NCAA players may participate in the draft combine, and are allowed to attend one tryout per year with each NBA team without losing college eligibility.
- *NCAA players may now enter and withdraw from the draft up to two times without loss of eligibility. Previously, the NCAA treated a second declaration of draft eligibility as a permanent loss of college eligibility.
Early entrants
Players who are not automatically eligible have to declare their eligibility for the draft by notifying the NBA offices in writing no later than at least 60 days before the draft. For the 2020 draft, the date initially fell on April 26, but the deadline was postponed indefinitely and may fall on August 16. After that date, "early entry" players are able to attend NBA pre-draft camps and individual team workouts to show off their skills and obtain feedback regarding their draft positions. Under the CBA a player may withdraw his name from consideration from the draft at any time before the final declaration date, which is 10 days before the draft. Under current NCAA rules, players have until 10 days after the draft combine to withdraw from the draft and retain college eligibility; however, due to COVID-19 disruptions, the NCAA announced that for the 2020 draft, the withdrawal deadline would be changed to 10 days after the combine or August 3, whichever comes first.A player who has hired an agent retains his remaining college eligibility regardless of whether he is drafted after an evaluation from the NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee. Underclassmen who declare for the NBA draft and are not selected have the opportunity to return to their school for at least another year only after terminating all agreements with their agents, who must be certified no later than August 1, 2020.
College underclassmen
- Precious Achiuwa – F, Memphis
- Milan Acquaah – G, California Baptist
- Abdul Ado – F, Mississippi State
- Ty-Shon Alexander – G, Creighton
- Cole Anthony – G, UNC
- Brendan Bailey – F, Marquette
- Saddiq Bey – F, Villanova
- Tyler Bey – G, Colorado
- Jermaine Bishop – G, Norfolk State
- Dachon Burke Jr. – G, Nebraska
- Jared Butler – G, Baylor
- Vernon Carey Jr. – F, Duke
- Zach Cooks – G, NJIT
- Jalen Crutcher – G, Dayton
- Nate Darling – G, Delaware
- Darius Days – F, LSU
- Lamine Diane – F, Cal State Northridge
- Devon Dotson – G, Kansas
- Nojel Eastern – G, Purdue
- Anthony Edwards – G, Georgia
- C. J. Elleby – F, Washington State
- / LJ Figueroa – F, St. John's
- Malik Fitts – F, Saint Mary's
- Malachi Flynn – G, San Diego State
- Blake Francis – G, Richmond
- Hasahn French – F, Saint Louis
- Both Gach – G, Utah
- Alonzo Gaffney – F, Ohio State
- Luka Garza – C, Iowa
- Grant Golden – F, Richmond
- Jordan Goodwin – G, Saint Louis
- Tony Goodwin II – G, Redemption Academy
- Darin Green Jr. – F, UCF
- Josh Green – G, Arizona
- Ashton Hagans – G, Kentucky
- Tyrese Haliburton – G, Iowa State
- Josh Hall – F, Moravian Prep
- Rayshaun Hammonds – F, Georgia
- Jalen Harris – G, Nevada
- Niven Hart – G, Fresno State
- Aaron Henry – F, Michigan State
- Nate Hinton – G, Houston
- Elijah Hughes – F, Syracuse
- Chance Hunter – G, Long Beach State
- Marreon Jackson – G, Toledo
- DeJon Jarreau – G, Houston
- Dakari Johnson – G, Cape Fear CC
- Mason Jones – G, Arkansas
- Tre Jones – G, Duke
- Corey Kispert – F, Gonzaga
- A. J. Lawson – G, South Carolina
- Saben Lee – G, Vanderbilt
- Kira Lewis – G, Alabama
- / Nico Mannion – G, Arizona
- Naji Marshall – F, Xavier
- Kenyon Martin Jr. – G, IMG Academy
- / Remy Martin – G, Arizona State
- Tyrese Maxey – G, Kentucky
- Jaden McDaniels – F, Washington
- E. J. Montgomery – G, Kentucky
- Aaron Nesmith – G, Vanderbilt
- Zeke Nnaji – F, Arizona
- Obadiah Noel – G, UMass Lowell
- / Jordan Nwora – F, Louisville
- Onyeka Okongwu – F, USC
- Isaac Okoro – F, Auburn
- Elijah Olaniyi – G, Stony Brook
- Daniel Oturu – C, Minnesota
- Reggie Perry – F, Mississippi State
- John Petty Jr. – G, Alabama
- Nate Pierre-Louis – G, Temple
- Yves Pons – G, Tennessee
- Immanuel Quickley – G, Kentucky
- Jahmi'us Ramsey – G, Texas Tech
- Paul Reed – F, DePaul
- Nick Richards – C, Kentucky
- Colbey Ross – G, Pepperdine
- Fatts Russell – G, Rhode Island
- Jay Scrubb – G, John A. Logan College
- Aamir Simms – F, Clemson
- Chris Smith – F, UCLA
- Jalen Smith – F, Maryland
- Justin Smith – F, Indiana
- Stef Smith – G, Vermont
- Cassius Stanley – G, Duke
- Isaiah Stewart – F, Washington
- Tyrell Terry – G, Stanford
- Xavier Tillman – C, Michigan State
- Obi Toppin – F, Dayton
- Jordan Tucker – F, Butler
- Devin Vassell – G, Florida State
- Trendon Watford – G, LSU
- Ibi Watson – G, Dayton
- Kaleb Wesson – F, Ohio State
- Kahlil Whitney – F, Kentucky
- Emmitt Williams – F, LSU
- Patrick Williams – F, Florida State
- James Wiseman – C, Memphis
- Robert Woodard II – F, Mississippi State
- Ömer Yurtseven – C, Georgetown
International players
- Ragip Atar – C, MZT Skopje
- / Deni Avdija – F, Maccabi Tel Aviv
- Brancou Badio – G, FC Barcelona
- Darko Bajo – F, Split
- Jordan Bayehe – F, Roseto Sharks
- Marek Blaževič – C, Rytas Vilnius
- Adrian Bogucki – C, Rosa Radom
- / Leandro Bolmaro – G, FC Barcelona
- Vinicius Da Silva – C, Prat
- Henri Drell – F, Consultinvest Pesaro
- Imru Duke – F, Zentro Basket
- Michele Ebeling – F, Kleb Ferrara
- / Paul Eboua – F, Stella Azzurra Roma
- Osas Ehigiator – C, Montakit Fuenlabrada
- Joël Ekamba – G, Limoges CSP
- Selim Fofana – G, Union Neuchâtel
- Miguel González – G, Kirolbet Baskonia
- Killian Hayes – G, ratiopharm Ulm
- Şehmus Hazer – G, Teksüt Bandırma
- Rokas Jokubaitis – G, Žalgiris Kaunas
- Georgios Kalaitzakis – G, Panathinaikos
- Vít Krejčí – G, Casademont Zaragoza
- Artūrs Kurucs – G, VEF Rīga
- Dut Mabor – C, Roseto Sharks
- Yam Madar – G, Hapoel Tel Aviv
- Théo Maledon – G, ASVEL
- Karim Mané – G, Vanier College
- Sergi Martínez – F, FC Barcelona
- Nikola Mišković – F, Mega Bemax
- Aristide Mouaha – G, Roseto Sharks
- Caio Pacheco – G, Weber Bahía
- Joel Parra – F, Joventut Badalona
- Filip Petrušev – F, Mega Bemax
- / Aleksej Pokuševski – F, Olympiacos Pireaus
- Sander Raieste – F, Kalev/Cramo
- Nikos Rogkavopoulos – F, AEK Athens
- Yiğitcan Saybir – F, Anadolu Efes
- Njegoš Sikiraš – F, Montakit Fuenlabrada
- Boriša Simanić – F, Crvena zvezda
- Marko Simonović – C, Mega Bemax
- Mouhamed Thiam – C, Nanterre 92
- Uroš Trifunović – G, Patrizan Belgrade
- Arnas Velička – G, CBet Prienai
- Andrii Voinalovych – F, Khimik Yuzhny
Automatically eligible entrants
- They have completed four years of their college eligibility.
- If they graduated from high school in the U.S., but did not enroll in a U.S. college or university, four years have passed since their high school class graduated.
- They have signed a contract with a professional basketball team not in the NBA, anywhere in the world, and have played under that contract.
- They are at least 22 years old during the calendar year of the draft. In terms of dates, players born on or before December 31, 1998 are automatically eligible for the 2020 draft.
- They have signed a contract with a professional basketball team not in the NBA within the United States, and have played under that contract.
| Player | Note | Ref. | |
 Terry Armstrong | South East Melbourne Phoenix | Did not attend college; playing professionally since 2019–20 season | |
| LaMelo Ball | Illawarra Hawks | Did not attend college; playing professionally since 2017–18 season | |
 Sam Froling | Illawarra Hawks | Left Creighton in 2019; playing professionally since 2019–20 season | |
| R. J. Hampton | New Zealand Breakers | Did not attend college; playing professionally since 2019–20 season | |
/ Sacha Killeya-Jones | Kalev/Cramo | Left Kentucky in 2018; playing professionally since the 2019–20 season | |
| Alex Mudronja | Adelaide 36ers | Left Saint Mary's in 2019; playing professionally since the 2019–20 season | |
| Kouat Noi | Cairns Taipans | Left TCU in 2019; playing professionally since the 2019–20 season |