San Antonio Spurs: Clarifying the timeline of the 2020 NBA offseason

It’s official: We’ve got a solidified timeline for how the San Antonio Spurs and 29 other NBA teams will proceed in the coming weeks and months.

After weeks of deliberation, the NBA and the NBPA have come to a final determination on what’s next for this league we know and love. The San Antonio Spurs will officially begin their season on December 22nd, as our very own Matias Weilmann documented just a few short days ago. The 2020 NBA Draft is just around the corner on November 18, but what else is on the horizon?

The next anticipated event is the only one that’s still unconfirmed — A trade moratorium. As per The New York Times’ Marc Stein, open season on the trade market will begin two days before the NBA Draft on November 16. This is still unconfirmed, but this could end up being a big deal for the San Antonio Spurs. With their highest draft selection since 1997, the team could be in line for some trade movement as soon as next Monday.

The NBA, sources say, has scheduled a Board of Governors call for later today for team owners to approve the agreement reached Monday night on the salary-cap rules to govern the coming season

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) November 10, 2020

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Just after the draft, the moratorium period on NBA free agency will begin on November 20. For players with options on their contracts, most notably DeMar DeRozan, information will begin trickling in soon. If DeMar opts to exit his contract and hit the free-agent market, he’ll do so on the 20th. The San Antonio Spurs will also need to make decisions on a handful of other rotation players; namely Bryn Forbes, Marco Belinelli and restricted free agent Jakob Poeltl.

Free agency actually begins on November 22nd after a two-way period in which verbal contracts can become written deals. Teams will have just over a week before the start of training camp, which is an unprecedented shift from the usual timeline in the summer offseason. However, jumping right back into the shortened NBA season is the best way to maintain the NBA’s status quo. Having the playoffs overlap with the MLB and NFL simultaneously hurt ratings and ultimately, the league must maintain its advertising money to turn a measurable profit.

From the San Antonio Spurs’ perspective, this means that the team is going to get started but the AT&T Center will remain hollow. Once it’s safe to do so, fans will begin to re-enter the arena at limited capacity, but that’s dependant on issues that have nothing to do with basketball.

In time, we’ll get back to normal. For now, enjoy the fact that the San Antonio Spurs are gearing up for a new season. We’ll keep you updated as things progress.