When is the NBA Draft?

For many fanbases, the NBA Draft is the most important day of the league year. When you think about it, it makes sense that it would be. The Golden State Warriors – the NBA’s most recent dynasty – was built largely through the draft. The same goes for the Tim Duncan/Tony Parker/Manu Ginobili iteration of the San Antonio Spurs that reigned supreme over most of the 2000s before them.

Simply put, the NBA Draft is where many great teams (unless you are based in Los Angles or New York) are built. So, it is a very important day.

This year, the NBA Draft will take place on Thursday, June 22, 2023. If this year’s NBA Finals goes the distance, Game 7 is designated to take place on Sunday, June 18, 2023. So, that will give us a few days to catch our breath before the big day.

Unlike the NFL Draft, which takes place over the course of three days, both rounds of the NBA Draft are completed in a single day. The draft will likely kick off at around 8 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST) and conclude sometime around midnight. The event will take place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York (home of the Brooklyn Nets).

The NBA Draft Lottery, which decides the order of picks 1-14, will be on Tuesday, May 16, 2023. Like the NBA Draft, this event will also be held at the Barclays Center.

The New Orleans Pelicans will be picking in the lottery, and since that obviously hasn’t happened yet, we don’t know where exactly that pick will land. What we do know is that the Pelicans will have their own first-round pick, their own second-round pick (if it finishes in the top-45 – if it doesn’t, it goes to the Atlanta Hawks), the Golden State Warriors’ second-round pick, and the Charlotte Hornets’ second-round pick in this draft.

So, unless they make any trades, that gives them four chances to add a franchise-altering player to their already promising assortment of young talent.