The Phoenix Suns’ date with the NBA lottery has changed. Does this change anything?

In a season of near-constant change, there is yet another one that has occurred recently for the Phoenix Suns

In what can only be described as an unprecedented year for Phoenix Suns fans and the NBA community at large, Shams Charania reported yet another change on Tuesday morning.

The NBA draft lottery (which was originally scheduled for August 25th) has now been moved up five days, to August 20th. The actual scheduled NBA draft date will remain unchanged and is set for October 16th.

What does this change mean?

Well in the grand scheme of things, not a ton. As the NBA solidifies its schedule, dates become more set in stone, and with the NCAA still trying to figure out what dates they want to have as a college player decision deadline, this is a clear marker on the NBA’s plans.

There have already been so many changes and there will not be an NBA draft combine in the midst of this pandemic, so the Suns front office has and will continue to have their work cut out for them ahead of the draft. Now, their deadline is shorter.

With the season resuming, the Suns will have one eye on the games ahead and one eye looking at August

For the Phoenix Suns, this is also somewhat of a footnote compared to the games that they have ahead, but it is still important. With the Suns sitting at 26-39, they are obviously a lot closer to the lottery than contention, and at the time of the shutdown, Phoenix actually held the 10th spot in the lottery by order of their record.

As much as Suns fans (myself included) want to believe (cue Kevin Garnett’s “Anything is Possible!”) the Suns upcoming schedule combined with the ground they have to make up is extremely daunting. There are several teams ahead of Phoenix trying to overtake the Memphis Grizzlies for that eighth seed, and with the Blazers getting their squad healthy and the Pelicans having an easier schedule, well, let’s just say the odds are looking rather slim for the Suns postseason chances.

While that may be a disappointment in the short term, the positive is being able to draft a piece that can join the young core already in place. Whether the Suns look at the season reset as an opportunity to contend or develop, we can be sure that the front office is looking ahead to late August.