Explaining NBA draft lottery as franchises cross fingers
There isn’t a Victor Wembanyamatype player in the 2024 NBA draft, but there are players who can help teams. And several teams need all they help they can get.
The Detroit Pistons need to accelerate their rebuild, the Washington Wizards, Charlotte Hornets and Portland Trail Blazers are searching for players who will be long-term solutions and the San Antonio Spurs are looking for a player or two (the Spurs could end up with two lottery picks) to add alongside Wembanyama, the 2023-24 NBA Rookie of the Year who appears to be another generational player.
We will find out where each team picks in the lottery when the NBA conducts its annual draft lottery Sunday.
Here is what you need to know about the draft lottery:
When is NBA draft lottery?
Sunday, May 12 in Chicago, 3 p.m. ET.
How to watch NBA draft lottery?
ABC will televise the draft lottery.
How does NBA draft lottery work?
According to the NBA, “Fourteen ping-pong balls numbered 1 through 14 will be placed in a lottery machine. There are 1,001 possible combinations when four balls are drawn out of 14, without regard to their order of selection. Before the lottery, 1,000 of those 1,001 combinations will be assigned to the 14 participating lottery teams.
“All 14 balls are placed in the lottery machine and they are mixed for 20 seconds, and then the first ball is removed. The remaining balls are mixed in the lottery machine for another 10 seconds, and then the second ball is drawn. There is a 10-second mix, and then the third ball is drawn.
There is a 10-second mix, and then the fourth ball is drawn. The team that has been assigned that combination will receive the No. 1 pick. The same process is repeated with the same pingpong balls and lottery machine for the second through fourth picks.”
The remaining lottery teams are slotted in order of their draft odds. Detroit can’t slide any lower than No. 5, Washington no lower than No. 6, Charlotte no lower than No. 7, Portland no lower than No. 8 and San Antonio no lower than No. 9. After that, if a team doesn’t move into the top four via ping-pong ball selection, it can’t move up any higher than its draft lottery odds position. For example, if Toronto, with the sixth-best odds to get a top-four pick doesn’t move in the top four, it can’t land a pick any better than No. 6. If Memphis doesn’t move into the top four, it can’t get a pick any better than No. 7 and so on.
The lottery is conducted in a separate room (with no communication devices, such as cell phones or computers) just before the draft lottery TV show. Select media, NBA officials and representatives of the participating teams and the accounting firm Ernst & Young will be in attendance in the room for the drawings.
2024 NBA draft lottery odds
Odds for the No. 1 pick
Detroit – 14% (percent chance to get a top-four pick: 52.13%)
Washington – 14% (percent chance to get a top-four pick: 52.13%)
Charlotte – 13.3% (percent chance to get a top-four pick: 50.28%)
Portland – 13.2% (percent chance to
get a top-four pick: 50.01%)
San Antonio – 10.5% (percent chance to get a top-four pick: 42.11%)
Toronto – 9% (percent chance to get a top-four pick: 37.22%) (pick will be conveyed to San Antonio if not among the top 6 picks)
Memphis – 7.5% (percent chance to get a top-four pick: 31.95%)
Utah – 6% (percent chance to get a top-four pick: 26.3%) (pick will be conveyed to Oklahoma City if not among the top 10 picks)
Houston – 4.5% (from Brooklyn) (percent chance to get a top-four pick: 20.27%)
Atlanta – 3% (percent chance to get a top-four pick: 13.88%)
Chicago – 2% (percent chance to get a top-four pick: 9.41%)
Houston – 1.5% (pick will be conveyed to Oklahoma City if not among the top 4 picks) (percent chance to get a top-four pick: 7.12%)
Sacramento – 0.8% (percent chance to get a top-four pick: 3.84%)
Golden State – 0.7% (pick will be conveyed to Portland – via Boston and Memphis – if not among the top 4 picks) (percent chance to get a top-four pick: 3.37%)
Who is the projected No. 1 pick in 2024 NBA draft?
There is not a definitive No. 1 selection , like last season when Victor Wembanyama emerged as the choice. This season, France’s Alex Sarr and
Zaccharie Risacher have been projected No. 1 picks throughout the 2023-24 season.
Who are the other projected top picks in 2024 NBA draft?
UConn’s Donovan Clingan and Stephon Castle, Serbia’s Nikola Topic, Kenctucky’s Rob Dillingham and Reed Sheppard, Lithuanian-America Matas advantage of these opportunities and growing her own spotlight, Reese shines it on everyone in the game.
“Next year, I want another rookie to go (to the Met Gala). I want women’s basketball players to be there. We deserve a spot,” Reese said. “So many people were yelling from the street, calling my name, calling me, ‘Bayou Barbie,’ ‘Chi-Town Barbie.’ It was cool just to be able to see I don’t just impact people on the court but off the court as well.”
That impact is already being felt in Chicago.
This is a fanbase reeling from the Sky’s inability to hang onto the team that won the title in 2021.
But Reese has given them hope again. Her jerseys were sold out on the Sky’s online store within days of her being drafted.
Tuesday night’s game was limited to season-ticket holders – and new Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams and fellow first-round pick Rome Odunze – and there were enough of them to fill most of the lower bowl at Wintrust Arena.
“It’s huge,” Courtney Vandersloot, a starter on that Sky championship team before signing with the Liberty as a free agent last season, said of the importance to the WNBA of having a rejuvenated Chicago team.
“They’re going to pack this house and it’s going to be a great place, and they’re going to have eyes on them everywhere they go,” Vandersloot added. “It’s all about growing the game and growing the league, and they’re going to be at the forefront of that.”
Every time Reese scored or made a big defensive play, the crowd cheered and threw their fists into the air. When she made a driving layup over Jonquel Jones and drew a foul, the roar drowned out the P.A. announcer’s cry of “Chi-town Barbie!”
Reese finished with 13 points, five rebounds and two steals in the Sky’s 10153
Buzelis and Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht are potential top-10 picks.
NBA draft lottery simulator
Using tankathon.com’s simulator, this is what lottery results could look like:
1. Washington
2. Detroit
3. Houston rout of the New York Liberty.
Whether these folks were WNBA fans before this season or not is irrelevant. They’re invested now. In Reese, in the Sky and, by extension, the rest of the (All times Eastern) Saturday, May 11
Hockey
National Hockey League
7 p.m.
TNT/TRU/MAX — N.Y. Rangers at Carolina
10 p.m.
TNT/MAX/TRU — Dallas at Colorado
Basketball
National Basketball Association
3:30 p.m.
ABC — Oklahoma City at Dallas
8:30 p.m.
ABC — Boston at Cleveland
Baseball
Major League Baseball
4:10 p.m.
FS1 — Atlanta at N.Y. Mets
7:15 p.m.
FOX — St. Louis at Milwaukee
FOX — Cincinnati at San Francisco
9:38 p.m.
MLBN — Kansas City at L.A. Angels
9:40 p.m.
ESPN+/MLBN — Oakland at Seattle
Soccer
English Premier League
7:30 a.m.
USA/NBCU — Manchester City at Fulham
10 a.m.
PEAC — Brighton & Hove Albion at Newcastle United
PEAC — Burnley at Tottenham Hotspur PEAC — Luton Town at West Ham United
4. Portland
5. Charlotte
6. San Antonio
7. San Antonio
8. Memphis
9. Utah
10. Atlanta
11. Chicago
12. Oklahoma City
13. Sacramento
14. Portland league. That’s how you build on progress. That’s how you take momentum and turn it into sustained growth.
That’s how you pay back all those women who came before you.
PEAC — Brentford at AFC Bournemouth
PEAC — Crystal Palace at Wolverhampton Wanderers
USA — Sheffield United at Everton
12:30 p.m.
NBC/PEAC — Chelsea at Nottingham Forest
Major League Soccer
7:30 p.m.
AppleTV — Inter Miami CF at CF Montreal
AppleTV — D.C. United at Atlanta United
AppleTV — Nashville SC at Charlotte FC
AppleTV — Orlando City at Philadelphia Union
AppleTV — New York City Football Club at Toronto FC
AppleTV — New England Revolution at New York Red Bulls
7:45 p.m.
AppleTV/FS1 — FC Cincinnati at Columbus Crew
8:30 p.m.
AppleTV — Austin FC at FC Dallas AppleTV — Chicago Fire FC at St. Louis City SC
AppleTV — Houston Dynamo FC at Sporting Kansas City
9:30 p.m.
AppleTV — San Jose Earthquakes at Colorado Rapids
10:30 p.m.
AppleTV — Real Salt Lake at LA Galaxy AppleTV — Vancouver Whitecaps FC at Los Angeles Football Club