NBA Imposes Limits On Scouts For Upcoming College Basketball Season

Back in March, NBA teams began pulling scouts off the road when the coronavirus pandemic first hit.

When I first wrote that story on March 8, there were 21 confirmed deaths from COVID-19 in the U.S.

With the college basketball season set to begin on Nov. 25 and more than 210,000 Americans dead from the virus, the NBA has imposed stricter limits on its scouts.

Kiki Vandeweghe, executive vice president of basketball operations for the NBA, sent an email to NBA personnel on Friday saying that NBA scouts were prohibited from attending college practices this season and can only attend games that are open to the general public.

The Champions Classic, for example, typically has in excess of 70 NBA personnel on hand for the annual event featuring Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and Michigan State.

This year’s event is set for Dec. 1 in Orlando and won’t have any scouts because none of the events there will be open to the public.

These limitations figure to have an impact on players who enter the 2021 NBA Draft, and will force scouts to watch more video and get more information from Synergy Sports.

“For sure,” one NBA scout said, “we are prepared to do so.”