The NBA draft lottery is an exciting but confusing event for basketball fans. Many people must understand how the lottery works or why it exists entirely.
Dreams come true or get dashed instantly – the NBA draft lottery creates instant champions and heartbreak with every ball drawn. This peculiar event shapes the competitive NBA landscape before the new season begins.
This article will explain the lottery process in the simplest way possible so even someone who knows nothing about basketball can understand it. Let’s start at the beginning!
What is the NBA Draft Lottery?
The NBA draft lottery is a random drawing that determines the order of selection for the teams in the upcoming NBA draft. Essentially, the NBA draft lottery decides which team gets the first pick, second pick, third pick, and so on in the draft.
The lottery takes place each spring before the draft, typically in late June.
Why Have a Lottery?
The NBA introduced the draft lottery in 1985 to discourage teams from intentionally losing games to improve their draft position and potentially get the first pick.
Making the order random removes the incentive to be the worst team record-wise. The team with the worst record still has the best chance to win the lottery, but it still needs to be fully in their control. This helps promote fair competition in the league.
Which Teams Are in the Lottery?
The lottery decides picks for the first draft round, including the top 14 selections. But not all teams are formed:
The 10 teams that did not make the playoffs qualify automatically
4 additional teams that made the playoffs but were eliminated early qualify as well
So, 14 teams end up in the lottery draw.
How Do Teams Get Assigned Odds for Winning the First Pick?
The 14 lottery teams are each assigned lottery odds based on their regular season win-loss record. The worse the record, the higher the odds to help struggling teams rebuild.
The odds specifically work like this:
The 3 teams with the worst records each have a 14% chance at the first pick
The following 3 teams have slightly lower odds between 12-14%
The odds continue decreasing with better records, with the last 4 teams between 1-4%
The team with the worst record possible (the 10th worst record if non-playoff teams only) would have a 14% chance to win the lottery.
How Does the Actual Lottery Drawing Work?
The lottery drawing is conducted using a custom lottery machine containing 14 ping pong balls numbered 1 through 14. These 14 balls represent the 14 teams that are in the lottery. The lottery machine blows air upwards inside the hollow sphere that houses the balls, mixing them to ensure a random draw.
Before starting the drawing, these 14 ping pong balls are carefully inspected and loaded into the lottery machine according to official procedures. Once packed in, the operator closes the machine, and the televised drawing can commence. Members of the media bear witness to ensure proper oversight.
The first crucial part of the lottery drawing is when the first four ping pong balls are drawn individually to assign the top four draft picks. When the first ball is removed, the announcer reveals which team has won the number one draft pick based on the numbering of the ball.
This ball result links to the odds assigned to each team before the lottery. For example, if the Cleveland Cavaliers ball comes up first, they have won the first pick in the draft.
The machine then draws the second ball, which assigns the number two draft pick to that team. As before, an announcer calls out which team it is. The third and fourth balls subsequently come up, unveiling the order of those draft picks. At this point, the first four selections in the draft have been set.
It continues in reverse order from the fourth ball drawn backward. Let’s say the order removed is the Cavs, Hawks, Hornets, then Knicks. The next pick after the Knicks is assigned to the team whose ball came up third: the Hornets.
So, Charlotte gets the fifth pick. This pattern backs down until all 14 lottery teams have an assigned draft selection number.
Can One Team Get Multiple Picks?
While the lottery drawing results are entirely random, there is a possibility that one franchise could land multiple top draft picks.
Since 14 ping pong balls numbered 1 through 14 representing each lottery team are swirling around in the machine, any ball could be selected more than once. Thus, one unlucky franchise could have its ball popped up two, three, or even four times in the event of some miraculous odds.
For example, if the Minnesota Timberwolves ball came up first, second, and fourth in the drawing, they would be awarded the #1, #2, and #4 picks that year. So Minnesota would have three selections very early in the first round. Their ping pong ball defied the probabilities and was drawn multiple times by fortune’s hand.
Likewise, any number of teams could have their ball chosen twice to move up a couple of slots or more.
When is the NBA Draft Lottery Held?
The NBA draft lottery takes place every year in mid-May, typically about a month before the NBA draft itself, which is held in late June. The specific lottery date moves around slightly on the May calendar each year but generally falls in the middle of the month.
In recent years, the lottery has transformed into a significant primetime event covered heavily by national media. ESPN proudly broadcasts an exclusive live TV special showcasing the ping pong ball drawing results as they unfold in real time. The broadcast has high entertainment value for basketball fans, as the lottery outcome shapes the immediate future of NBA franchises.
Given its growing pop culture status, the event has expanded to include more pomp and circumstance.
Team representatives join hand-picked media members to fill a room as they anxiously await the lottery results. The room buzzes with nervous energy as they watch numbered ping pong balls randomly selected to determine the all-important draft order.
Complimentary food and beverages lighten the mood, but fortunes hang in the balance as the ping-pong machine churns out the numbers.
Conclusion
Ultimately, the NBA draft lottery is designed to help struggling teams rebuild by improving their chances of getting a transformational player.
Since the results are random, teams must hope for luck on lottery night to land a coveted prospect. It adds extra intrigue and suspense to the offseason!
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