The two-day draft is a misfire from the NBA

NBA commissioner Adam Silver speaks at the podium after the first round of the 2024 NBA Draft at Barclays Center.

The NBA turned its yearly draft into a two-day affair. It wasn't exactly riveting television.

The main problem is that the draft's second day lacks any of the flair and excitement of the first round. Round 1 happened at the Barclays Center, an NBA arena full of enthusiastic fans cheering and booing.

Players showed off their fashion sense and got tearful hugs from their loved ones. That only rarely happened during the second round.

Round 2 took place at an ESPN studio in Lower Manhattan, with deputy commissioner Mark Tatum looking like he was hosting a Zoom meeting. When he announced the picks he was usually met with complete silence.

Plus, the players present were bummed out, since some of them had to sit through Wednesday night in the Barclays Center green room waiting to get picked.

At least in the old format they simply got picked later the same evening, in the same building, instead of making a humiliating return to a TV studio.

The telecast started at 4 p.m. ET, which means most people on the east coast were still at work when the show begins. Day 2 of the draft competed with soap operas, Judge Judy and syndicated talk shows, and its production value seemed similarly bare-bones.

Even with the extra day, selections still happened during commercial breaks, as early as pick No. 34.

It was reminiscent of when Denver's selection of future three-time MVP Nikola Jokic was announced during a Taco Bell commercial in 2014.

One reason for the second day of drafting is that it allows teams a longer time period to make selections, or trades. Previously, the teams got two minutes to make picks in the second round, which was a little rushed. Now it's been stretched to four minutes.

We did see some deals, like the Sacramento Kings salary-dumping Davion Mitchell and Sasha Vezenkov to the Toronto Raptors, or the Atlanta Hawks salary-dumping A.J. Griffin to the Houston Rockets.

Don't forget the Minnesota Timberwolves salary-dumping Wendell Moore Jr. to the Detroit Pistons!

Once again, not exactly riveting television.

The biggest effect of the one-day delay seems to have been NBA teams trying to squeeze players on their deals.

First-round picks get guaranteed deals based on an established rookie scale. Second-round picks have no such guarantees, meaning teams can negotiate hard with such prospects. They can offer long-term deals with multiple guaranteed years, or smaller two-way deals. The extra day has given teams more leverage to lock in a contract before deciding to make a pick.

But that also removes some of the drama. There's no need to look at a "Best Player Available" graphic when the picks are motivated by pre-draft contract negotiations.

ESPN's telecast was centered around LeBron James' son Bronny, but that also lacked drama, especially when Bob Myers reported that his agent, Rich Paul, warned teams off drafting him. So the telecast plodded towards a predictable conclusion.

Perhaps the financial incentives are worth it for the NBA to stretch out the draft. But as an entertainment vehicle, the second-day second round is second-rate.

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