Restart Notes: FA Moratorium, Safety Protocols, BBL

With the NBA targeting October 15 for its 2020 draft and October 18 for the start of free agency, the player-movement portion of this year’s offseason figures to be fast-paced and hectic. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the moratorium at the start is expected to reflect that compressed timeline.

“I’m told the moratorium will only last two days,” Charania said during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show (video link). “October 20, it’ll be lifted so guys can sign contracts. Usually the moratorium can be anywhere from six to seven days. Now, because of this truncated schedule, two days.”

As we explain in our glossary entry on the subject, the July moratorium – which runs from the start of free agency (June 30 or July 1) until July 6 – is a period in which agreements on free agent deals and trades can be reached, but most of those agreements can’t be officially completed. This year, it sounds like the first contracts agreed upon at the start of free agency can be signed just a couple days later.

Here’s more on the NBA’s restart:

• In an excellent behind-the-scenes story, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne looks at how the NBA and NBPA formulated a plan for the resumption of the season, focusing on the relationships NBPA president Chris Paul has with commissioner Adam Silver and Disney executive chairman Bob Iger.
• Appearing this morning on ESPN’s Get Up (video link), Brian Windhorst said the NBA will soon disseminate a series of healthy and safety protocols for its return that will be over 100 pages long. “The schedule part of this was easy,” Windhorst said. “The health and safety part of this is going to be harder than you can possibly imagine.”
• German’s Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) is asking players to wear chips to monitor their movements as they resume play this weekend, according to ESPN’s Zach Lowe and Jonathan Givony. The BBL doesn’t have a players’ union and it sounds as if players aren’t thrilled about the fact that they weren’t informed of the league’s plans, but commissioner Stefan Holz insists the chips are “optional” and are only for COVID-19 tracing purposes. The NBA will be paying close attention to the resumption of play in Germany, per ESPN’s duo, since the league may be able to incorporate some of the BBL’s ideas into its restart (though I’m not sure the NBPA would be enthusiastic about tracking chips).