The NBA 2K League officially announced its offseason structure heading into season three.
Protection and Retention
Teams are required to protect at least two players in the lead-up to the expansion draft—the date of which has yet to be announced—but, in a change from last offseason, can now protect a third player from the expansion pool at the cost of a third-round pick in the season three entry draft. Team protections must be submitted between August 19-September 2.
Similar to last year, all players that aren’t protected are then eligible to be selected in the expansion draft.
If a team protects three players prior to expansion and an unprotected player from its roster is selected in the expansion draft, it may then retain a fourth player for the price of a second-round pick.
If a team protects three players prior to expansion and an unprotected player from its roster isn’t selected in the expansion draft, it may retain a fourth player for the price of a first-round pick.
If a team protects two players prior to expansion and an unprotected player from its roster is selected in the expansion draft, it may retain a first additional player at the cost of a fourth-round draft pick and may retain a second additional player at the cost of a third-round pick.
If a team protects two players prior to expansion and an unprotected player from its roster isn’t selected in the expansion draft, it may retain a first additional player at the cost of a fourth-round pick and a second additional player at the cost of a second-round pick.
Any players not retained by their teams and not selected in the expansion draft will be eligible for the season three entry draft.
Trades
There will also be two trade windows during the offseason—one following the expansion draft (with dates to be determined) and another that starts one month prior to the 2020 entry draft into week 12 of the regular season.
The league is also now allowing teams to trade a total of five assets during the 2020 season, and will allow teams to trade future assets up to the 2021 draft.
Similar to the previous two trade windows, all trades must have a 1:1 trade asset ratio.
