Cavaliers will select fifth in uncertain draft
A year ago, NBA teams were salivating over the chance to select Duke’s Zion Williamson No. 1.
There does not appear to be such a savior in the NBA draft in October, and that might be a consolation prize for Cleveland Cavaliers fans who were hoping to land the top pick Thursday night in the draft lottery.
The Cavs went into the lottery in the No. 2 spot by virtue of a 19-46 record that ranked second-worst in the league. But they ended up with the fifth pick, which had the most likely odds of their six possible selections.
The Minnesota Timberwolves won the lottery, which was conducted virtually because of the pandemic, with NBA officials doing the actual draw in Secaucus, New Jersey.
The Golden State Warriors, who had the league’s worst record, will have the
No. 2 pick, followed by the Charlotte Hornets and Chicago Bulls.
“We are excited about the depth of this year’s draft class,” Cavs general manager
Koby Altman said in a statement. “We are confident that this draft position will allow us to acquire talent that will complement our core mix of young players and established veterans.”
The Cavs do not have a second-round pick in this year’s draft.
Along with the Warriors and Timberwolves, the Cavs had a 14% chance of nabbing the top pick. The Cavs’ odds for picks 2-6 were 13.4%, 12.7, 12.0, 27.8 and 20.0, respectively.
Among the players expected to be selected in the top six this year are Georgia guard Anthony Edwards, Memphis center James Wiseman, well-traveled guard Lamelo Ball, Maccabi Tel Aviv guard/ forward Deni Avdija, Southern California forward/center Onyeka Okongwu, Dayton forward Obi Toppin and Auburn guard/forward Isaac Okoro.
Lakers 111, Trail Blazers 88 — Anthony Davis had 31 points and 11 rebounds and top-seeded Los Angeles bounced back from an opening loss to beat Portland on Thursday night in Game 2 of a first-round Western Conference playoff series in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
Lebron James had 10 points, six rebounds, seven assists and six turnovers.
Bucks 111, Magic 96 — Giannis Antetokounmpo had 28 points and 20 rebounds and Milwaukee rode a fast start to beat Orlando and tie the Eastern Conference series at a game apiece.
The Bucks boasted the NBA’S best regular-season record at 56-17, but went 3-5 in the eight seeding games at Disney’s Wide World of Sports and opened the playoffs by losing 122-110.
Rockets 111, Thunder 98 — James Harden had 21 points and nine assists and Houston made 19 of an Nba-record 56 three-point attempts to beat Oklahoma City for a 2-0 lead in a West series.
Information from the Akron Beacon Journal and the Associated Press was included in this story.