Celtics seek the top pick; Lakers aim to keep theirs

NEW YORK - The Boston Celtics are trying to go from No. 1 seed to No. 1 pick.

The Los Angeles Lakers don’t need to be first, but they sure better not be worse than third.

A night that’s normally for the NBA’s biggest losers has huge consequences this time for its greatest champions as the league holds its annual draft lottery Tuesday night.

There’s plenty at stake for teams such as Philadelphia, New Orleans and Sacramento, whose draft strategies can change enormously if the Ping-Pong balls bounce right in a New York hotel ballroom. But for the Celtics and Lakers, who were busy playing each other in the NBA Finals back when the lottery was instituted in 1985, the swings could help determine how quickly they can get back to their former heights.

A night after the East’s top seed hosts Game 7 of its second-round series, the Celtics will have a 25 percent chance of landing the top pick, thanks to a trade that keeps paying off for them nearly four years after they made it.

When the Celtics decided to break up the remaining core of their 17th NBA championship team, they dealt Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to Brooklyn as part of a draft-night deal in 2013. Boston got back first-round picks in 2014, 2016 and 2018, as well as the right to swap picks this year.

The Nets are in a rebuilding mode and had the NBA’s worst record this season, so the timing worked out perfectly for the Celtics. After falling back for a decade, the team in the pole position has won the lottery the last two seasons.

The Lakers

start the night in the No. 3 spot, and if they fall any lower — and there’s about a 53 percent chance they will — their pick goes to Philadelphia. The Lakers originally dealt it to Phoenix in 2012 in the trade for Steve Nash, and the 76ers later acquired it from the Suns.

That sets up the 76ers as potentially the biggest winners of the night, a year after they won the lottery and eventually drafted Ben Simmons.

They could not only win again if they move up from their current fourth spot, but land another top-five pick if the Lakers fall backward.