By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
The NBA is planning to end the season in October, most European competitions are expected to start the season in late September, and the result is simple.
European clubs and players are preparing themselves for a 2020 summer without moves from and to the NBA, which will involve athletes competing in Europe. The exceptions would be very few, and they will include mainly players who will be drafted, a long process that is now expected to be also completed in October.
Those are the players, which will probably be accommodated by their European clubs, which will permit them to leave Europe after the start of the 2020-21 season for a respectable buy-out. In most other cases, free agents from Europe would have to risk and wait for an NBA chance, without securing a possible deal in Europe.
It has to be noted that there are already agents and players who are asking for an open-dated NBA opt-out clause, which would permit them to leave Europe during the season and join the NBA if they get the opportunity. However, very few teams and indeed even fewer in the EuroLeague would agree to such a contract clause, which may jeopardize their on-court results.
Things are much worst for the marginal NBA players the other way around. The European market will close by September, which practically means that NBA free agents will not even get the chance to be offered to Europe. There will be no NBA summer league this year, an institution that also works as a showcase for many players who end up signing contracts mostly in the mid-tier European clubs.
What does all this mean? Many European teams will be forced to sign players who have already played in Europe, and they are already available in the market, or try and get some from China and Australia. And there are also some unique cases like Ryan Broekhoff who is already gaining traction in Europe, but he is already a free agent since February.
Rookies who are leaving college are also an option, but without being tested in the summer league, they also represent a risk. As a result, many US players would be recycled around Europe, while many clubs due to the loss of revenues because of the COVID-19 pandemic will be forced to include local prospects on their roster to cut expenses. That also means cutting spots of import players.