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Deseret News - Report: NBA comes to decision on transaction window, draft and free agency...

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Sarah Todd

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Utah Jazz two-players like Justin Wright-Foreman, pictured, and Jarrell Brantley will be eligible to play during the playoffs at the NBA’s restart in Orlando even if they’re not converted to a standard NBA contract. | Steve Griffin, Deseret News
SALT LAKE CITY — The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association are working to finalize several key items in order to move forward with the 2019-20 season restart in Orlando.

ESPN’s Bobby Marks and Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Saturday that the league’s transaction window ahead of the Orlando restart will be open from Tuesday, June 23 through Tuesday, June 30.

Additionally, early entry candidates will have until Aug. 17 to declare for the 2020 NBA draft with a withdraw cutoff date set for Oct. 6, 10 days ahead of the Oct. 16 draft, and NBA free agency will open Oct. 18.


The transaction window that open on Tuesday will allow all 30 teams to sign and waive players and include changes that need to be made to rosters for the 22 teams invited to Orlando.

Two-way player contracts can be converted to NBA deals on teams that have roster space, but two-way players will be eligible to play as a substitute during the playoffs even if not converted to a standard NBA contract.

For the Utah Jazz, that means two-way players Jarrell Brantley and Justin Wright-Foreman will be able to travel to Orlando with the Jazz and play in place of injured Bojan Bogdanovic or anyone that might test positive for COVID-19, without having to make other roster concessions or changes.

There will also be a second window from July 1 to Aug. 14 in which teams can sign substitute players who choose to stay home for any reason, according to Marks.

All of these items still have to be voted on and approved by both the NBA and player’s union. Since the transaction window is set to begin on Tuesday, approval of the imminent items is expected very soon.

After the league finishes approving items related to the Orlando restart, attention will turn to further negotiation regarding next season’s salary cap, luxury tax, and other CBA items that need to be ironed out before the draft, free agency, and the next season can begin.

While the impact of the NBA’s hiatus and corresponding loss of revenue is not fully known, Marks reports that many league executives expect for next season’s salary cap to stay close to what the 2019-20 cap was at $109 million rather than moving up to $115 million, which was the projected number for next season’s cap before the coronavirus upended the season.

All of these negotiations are ongoing and concurrent with rising COVID-19 cases in many states, but most notably to the NBA world in Florida where more than 4,000 new cases were confirmed on Saturday, the most in a single day for the state, which came in as 12.4% of Friday’s tests turned in positive results.

Risk related to the novel coronavirus is one of many concerns that players have voiced over the recent weeks in regard to the NBA’s Orlando plans.

Players are also concerned with injury after being away from the game for so long and jumping into intense competition, as well as social justice issues.

While the NBA’s bubble plan will offer daily testing for the NBA players and staff, there are Disney hotel, restaurant, resort and park employees who will be able to move within the bubble after only temperature and symptom checks.

As the league has yet to officially announce any agreed upon plans for the season restart, it also has not addressed the increase in COVID-19 cases in Florida and how the league plans to continue mitigating risk if numbers continue to increase.

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