On Friday, a nine-day NBA event kicks off in Chicago that includes the NBA G League Combine, the NBA Draft Lottery and the NBA Draft Combine — here’s what fans can expect to learn about the incoming NBA class of rookies.
NBA G League Combine
This is a three-day event that runs from May 8-10 and gives prospects that were not invited to the NBA Combine a chance to showcase their talent, through strength and agility drills as well as five-on-five scrimmages, in front of coaches, executives and scouts.
At the end of the three days, a select number of the 44 participants will earn an invite to the NBA Combine.
Standouts from the G League Combine, whether they get the call-up to the NBA Combine or not, often end up getting two-way deals or signing on to play on Summer League rosters with teams. In talking with scouts and executives, we can learn who stood out and made an impression.
NBA Draft Lottery
The lottery will be held on May 10 and will decide the 2026 draft order for the first 14 picks. The results of the lottery drawing will be broadcast on ABC at 1 p.m. MDT.
We’ll have full coverage of the lottery, including from inside the lottery drawing room.
NBA Draft Combine
From May 11-17, NBA executives, coaches and scouts will gather for the NBA Combine. This year, 73 prospects were invited to participate (this does not include the G League Combine players who will earn an invitation later in the week).
This is where official measurements will come in and we’ll learn exactly how tall players are with and without shoes and what their wingspans are. That usually happens during the first couple days of the combine.
Then the players will go through different shooting, strength and agility drills. These drills can have a big impact on how a player is viewed. A number of players in the past have stood out as having more or less athletic ability, more or less potential as a shooter, and more or less burst because of how they fared during these drills.
The combine week also includes player interviews with reporters as well as private interviews with teams. This is where first impressions are made. We’ll learn what players are being interviewed by which teams and how those teams felt about the interviews (off the record, of course).
All players at the combine are required to go through all measurements, strength and agility testing and shooting drills. Not all players are required to play in the five-on-five scrimmages that take place after all the drills are completed.
Usually, the top prospects opt not to take part in the scrimmages. But there are still a large number of first-round and second-round prospects that do participate in the scrimmages, giving an up-close, in-game view of what the players are capable of.
From the beat reporter’s perspective
The combine/lottery week in Chicago brings most of the NBA’s decision-makers into one place, without fans and with very little distraction, which is why it is a favorite event of many NBA reporters.
Through many off-the-record conversations, we can get a sense of who is making good impressions on teams, who is falling a little flat, who the teams are impressed by, who they are excited about and who has surprised.
It’s also a chance to watch the same things that the NBA decision-makers are watching, to see with our own eyes how the players fare in the drills, how they interact with one another, how they deal with numerous types of NBA and international reporters and how they manage the stress of everything around them, leading up to one of the most important events of their lives.
