Magic will have a new rep on draft lottery dais
The Orlando Magic have decided who will represent them at the 2018 NBA Draft Lottery on May 15 in Chicago. Franchise cofounder Pat Williams will sit in the room where pingpong balls are drawn while President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman will sit on stage when the lottery results are revealed, a team spokesman said. The team will have an 8.8 percent chance of winning the lottery, a 9.6 percent chance of receiving the second pick and a 10.7 percent chance of having the third pick.
The most likely outcomes will be that the Magic come away with the fifth pick (a 26.2 percent probability) or the sixth pick (35.9 percent).
There also is a chance Orlando will receive the seventh pick (8.4 percent) or the eighth pick (0.4 percent).
Those percentages were determined by the team’s finish in the overall NBA standings. Orlando had the league’s fifth-worst record, 25-57.
The Magic have won the lottery three times in their history: in 1992, 1993 and 2004. With those picks, the team drafted Shaquille O’Neal, Chris Webber and Dwight Howard.
Webber, of course, was traded on draft night for the rights to Penny Hardaway and three future first-round picks.
Williams represented the Magic on stage for all three of those lottery victories.
In 2015, team officials moved Williams from the dais to the room where the pingpong balls are drawn, and Williams has represented Orlando in the drawing room ever since.
Magic CEO Alex Martins sat on the dais in 2015, followed by then-General Manager Rob Hennigan in 2016 and then-coach Frank Vogel in 2017.
Orlando finished the 2016-17 season with the league’s fifth-worst record and came away with the sixth overall pick.
The team used that pick to select forward Jonathan Isaac out of FSU.
This year, the Magic also possess their own secondround pick and an additional second-round pick from February’s trade of Elfrid Payton to the Phoenix Suns. Those picks will be 35th and 41st overall.