As Embiid waits to be cleared to play, Sixers win No. 3 pick in draft

NEW YORK >> The 76ers’ fifth annual trip to the NBA Draft Lottery ended Tuesday with a small but valuable payout.

Though not as bountiful as it might have been, yet a small bump up from their likely spot, the Sixers wound up with the No. 3 overall pick in the June 22 draft.

Their mild good fortune was the result of their multilayered 2015 trade with the Sacramento Kings that yielded Nik Stauskas, among other perks, including the right to swap 2017 first-round picks. When the Kings won the third pick and the Sixers settled in at fifth, the order was switched.

Though general manager Bryan Colangelo was pleased with the result, it had the potential to be more bountiful. Yet when the Los Angeles Lakers won the No. 2 pick, they were able to protect it under conditions of the 2015 threeway trade that cost the Sixers Michael Carter-Williams.

The Sixers, though, will own the Lakers’ 2018 pick at whatever position, and the Kings’ 2019 choice.

As for 2017, though, No. 3 it will be. That was a slight bump from the No. 4 pick they would have acquired had the lottery gone strictly to form.

“We came into the night thinking we would have a solid outcome one way or another,” Colangelo said. “But we have flexibility with the high pick. And with the fact that we have jumped a spot at least from our fourth position, the assets are rolling forward now in a very concrete way.”

Though Brett Brown has been screaming for the Sixers to add shooters, Colangelo did not commit to drafting for position, though he did lean that way.

With the Celtics winning the lottery via a trade with Brooklyn, consensus No. 1 pick Markelle Fultz, a point guard from Washington, likely will be gone. After the Lakers select at No. 2, the Sixers will select from a menu that could include UCLA guard Lonzo Ball, Kansas guard Josh Jackson, guard De’Aaron Fox and his Kentucky backcourt teammate Malik Monk.

“Thank you, Sam Hinkie,” said owner Josh Harris, of his former general manager and the architect of a rebuilding process. “He set us up well. I am going to text him a big kiss tonight.”

••• Joel Embiid represented the Sixers on the lottery stage.

Recovering from a torn meniscus, the center said he will resume playing in two or three weeks. Yet after revealing that several Sixers were planning to gather in Camden for serious five-on-five workouts June 15, he did not commit to participating.

“No, I don’t think so,” he said. “I have no idea. That’s on them, whenever they clear me. But at some point this summer, I’m going to be playing five-on-five.”

As expected, Embiid will not play in any summertime NBA games.