Mississippi’s Blake Hinson, center, drives against Georgia’s Rayshaun Hammonds, left, and Sahvir Wheeler in a Southeastern Conference Tournament game on March 11 in Nashville, Tenn. Georgia won 81-63. (AP file photo)

The NBA — as per usual — has been sending evaluations to players who are considering leaving college early and entering the draft and will continue doing so to all underclassmen who ask for them before Thursday’s deadline. That task falls to the league’s Undergraduate Advisory Committee, which understands that what it says in these uncertain times may carry even more weight than usual.

“This is a process that’s important, maybe more important this year than ever,” said Kiki VanDeWeghe, the NBA’s Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations and UAC committee chair. “We’re trying to get the athletes and the schools as much information as we possibly can.”

Because of the coronavirus pandemic that has shut down the sports world, including the NBA, nobody knows when the draft will be held, who will have the No. 1 overall pick or how that will be decided. Nobody even knows when or if the draft combine, which is scheduled for mid-May and technically has not yet been changed, will take place.

When underclassmen ask, the NBA sends evaluations with a percentage of likelihood that they will fall into one of five draft-night categories — lottery (picks 1-14), first-round non-lottery (picks 15-30), first half of second round (picks 31-45), second half of second round (picks 46-60), and undrafted.

Michigan State's Cassius Winston, front left, is pressured by Ohio State's Luther Muhammad, right, and Kaleb Wesson during their Big 10 game on March 8 in East Lansing. Michigan State won 80-69. (AP file photo)

It’s not an exact science, but the league has pretty good success with it: Since 2016, based on its own evaluation and feedback that the 30 NBA teams share as part of the process, the league has told 66 candidates that they are first-round material and 49 others that they wouldn’t be drafted. They hit on 89% of those first-round projections and 96% of the undrafted projections.

So far, about 200 college early entry and international players have tested the waters for this draft. Most will withdraw, and that number is consistent with last year — when the league saw 219 hopefuls.

The draft was supposed to be June 25. That now seems highly unlikely, and plenty of teams have asked the NBA for a delay that looks inevitable.