The NBA Draft is taking place over two days for the first time for its 2024 edition. The NFL Draft has seen a ton of success expanding its event over several nights to make it into a celebration of all things football. However, in spite of the fact that relatively few second rounders make an impact in the league (Jalen Brunson, Nikola Jokic, etc. aside), the NBA is setting aside Round 2 as its own event.
Of course, the NBA and ESPN are very lucky this year that all eyes will be on Round 2 to see where and if Bronny James gets drafted. Could you imagine Stephen A. Smith trying to fill two hours of NBA Draft talk consisting of which European players will be stashed overseas or trying to analyze college players that he’s probably never seen play? But in an odd twist, the second round of the NBA Draft is at 4 PM ET on Thursday afternoon instead of in primetime.
Cue Brian Windhorst: now why is that?
Via Front Office Sports comes a very logical reason. ESPN and the NBA did not want to compete with Thursday night’s first Presidential Debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump:
The second round of the draft, on its own day for the first time, is scheduled to start at ESPN’s studios around 4 p.m. Eastern time Thursday. With the Lakers picking No. 55 overall, Bronny James could be drafted—if he’s picked at all—around 5:40 p.m., the time when ESPN is usually airing Pardon the Interruption, the nationwide favorite of teenagers and the underemployed.
You can thank the current and former presidents for that. An ESPN spokesperson confirmed that the odd 4 p.m. start time was to avoid conflicting with Thursday night’s presidential debate. The league ultimately sets the start time for its own events, but nearly every network, including the Disney-owned ABC, will be airing the 9 p.m. debate live.
The NBA Draft probably had its date set well in advance, but a presidential debate is one of the most watched events in America aside from a Super Bowl. And it’s going to be televised by all the major networks. So when it appears on the schedule, it calls for alternative plans to be made.
Of course, perhaps there’s a decent chunk of the population that couldn’t stand another round of Trump-Biden debates and might be looking for some interesting counter-programming. Just in case you were one of those folks, there’s a Copa America doubleheader featuring USA-Panama and Uruguay-Bolivia on the calendar tonight.
