NBA-NBPA memo outlines new NBA draft selection requirements

Major changes to the NBA draft landscape are coming in the new collective bargaining agreement, mutually agreed on by the NBA and players association this month.

A 91-page jointly written memo sent out by the NBA and NBPA to teams and players Monday and obtained by ESPN highlights two significant changes to the NBA draft process, the effects of which will be felt for years.

Beginning in 2024, all invited players will be required to attend and participate in the NBA Draft Combine or be ineligible to be drafted until the «first subsequent draft for which the player attends and fully participates.»

Participation will include league medical examinations, sharing of medical history and biomechanical and functional movement testing, as well as strength and agility testing, shooting drills, performance testing and anthropometric measurements. Players will also be required to conduct team interviews, media circuits, player development sessions and other assessments, as determined by the NBA in consultation with the NBPA. Players will not be compelled to compete in five-on-five scrimmaging, which typically only a handful of first-round prospects elect to participate in.

This represents a significant shift in favor of NBA teams who have long lobbied for this rule change. In the past, agents of elite prospects would regularly strategize to keep medicals of clients away from less-attractive franchises in hopes of steering their players to preferred destinations, something that will no longer be possible. This should also likely make the NBA Draft Combine more compelling, as a large number of top prospects often elected to skip fully participating or attending altogether in years past.

Players who are physically unable to