10 Best moments in NBA Draft Lottery history
By Josh Sanchez
The NBA Draft Lottery can help set teams up for success. When you come away with the top pick in the NBA Draft, you have your choice of the top draft prospects and the opportunity to select a true game changer that will help your franchise for years to come.
The NBA has used the Draft Lottery for years to determine the top pick in the draft, and that has led to some great moments that we can always look back on and enjoy.
But how does it work?
Since the rules may be foreign to some, here is a look at how the NBA Draft Lottery process works in the words of the league:
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• Fourteen ping pong balls numbered 1-14 are placed in a standard lottery machine.
• Four balls are drawn at random to determine the winner of each of the top three picks in the Draft. The order of the numbers drawn are not important, 1-2-3-4 is considered to be the same as 3-4-2-1.
• Each team in the lottery is assigned a certain amount of four-number combinations.
• Since the Milwaukee Bucks ended the season with the worst record, they will get 250 out of 1,000 number combinations available. The team with the best record in the lottery has only five combinations.
• Only the top three picks are drawn via the lottery. The remaining picks are decided by reverse order of finish.
• In the case of the Bucks, the lowest pick they could have is fourth overall.
How can you tune in to tonight’s festivities to see who comes away with the No. 1 pick in the 2014 NBA Draft? Here is all of the information you will need to tune in to the action from the start:
Date: Tuesday, May 20
Start Time: 8 p.m. ET
TV Info: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN
Rank | Team | Chance of Winning |
1 | Milwaukee Bucks | 25.0% |
2 | Philadelphia 76ers | 19.9% |
3 | Orlando Magic | 15.6% |
4 | Utah Jazz | 10.4% |
5 | Boston Celtics | 10.3% |
6 | Los Angeles Lakers | 6.3% |
7 | Sacramento Kings | 4.3% |
8 | Detroit Pistons* | 2.8% |
9 | Cleveland Cavaliers | 1.7% |
10 | New Orleans Pelicans* | 1.1% |
11 | Denver Nuggets (via New York Knicks) | 0.8% |
12 | Orlando Magic (via Denver Nuggets) | 0.7% |
13 | Minnesota Timberwolves | 0.6% |
14 | Phoenix Suns | 0.5% |
Be sure to stay tuned to FanSided.com throughout the day with the latest news and results from the 2014 NBA Draft Lottery.