So the season ends June 20-25 or so. The draft is several days after that & then perhaps a lock-out after that. Free agency is going to be very much affected. I would also say that the summer league is in jeopardy, so if you're picking up one of these athletic 7 foot guys without much in the way of basketball skills, losing summer league hurts even more.

I like the way the NFL does it with free agency preceeding the draft.

Am I right in saying that the free agency is after the draft & in this case (due to an impending lock out....) waaaay after the draft.

If there was no lockout Free Agency would start July 1, with players being able to actually sign with a new team on July 15. Trades can obviously happen at the draft, even sign and trades, but no other roster moves can be made until July 15 (signings).

The period between July 1 and July 15 is used by the league to determine revenue to determine next year's cap, so no one can sign and no one knows the EXACT amount something like the MLE will be until the league finishes their books. I don't know for sure, but I'm betting the reason the draft happens BEFORE this period is that the league generates revenue from the draft and that is calculated into the cap stuff...

Posted by Bonn1997:

Trades can obviously happen at the draft, even sign and trades

Are you sure that sign and trades can happen on draft night? I've been wondering if they could happen on draft night, but I wasn't sure.

Actually, I think you're right. I think what happens is you get the rights to the player and are able to sign them after the July 15 date. Yeah, I'm not sure how a sign and trade would work at the draft, actually.