The NBA and NBPA have agreed to major changes to the draft process as part of a new collective bargaining agreement.
Beginning in 2024, all invited players will be required to attend and participate in the NBA draft or be ineligible for draft until “the first subsequent draft in which a player fully attends and participates”.
Participation will include periodic medical examinations, medical history sharing and biomechanical and functional movement testing, as well as strength and agility testing, shooting drills, performance testing and anthropometrics.
This marks a huge shift in favor of the NBA teams who have long lobbied to change this rule. Prospective elite agents regularly strategized to keep medical information away from franchises they considered less attractive.
Players who are physically unable to participate, due to playing with a FIBA club still in season, family tragedy, childbirth, or injury, as determined by the Medical Director of the combination, will be required to complete a plug-in at a later date.
The second major change to be made in the new CBA includes the automatic disqualification of high school or university players who sign professional contracts with entities such as G League Ignite, Overtime Elite (OTE) or the Australian NBL.
In the past, players who signed with these entities were automatically eligible for the subsequent NBA draft, regardless of whether or not they were interested in doing so, provided they turned 19 in that calendar year.