NBA Draft Lottery could change format as soon as next year

By Josh Hill | Jul 16, 2014

Jun 26, 2014; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Zach LaVine (UCLA) gets a hug from NBA commissioner Adam Silver after being selected as the number thirteen overall pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2014 NBA Draft at the Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /

The NBA holds a draft lottery each year to determine the top three picks in the draft, but instead of just doing what the NFL does and going with reverse standings or doing a lottery drawing live on television, the league draws 14 ping pong balls behind the scenes so that 14 cardboard logos can be revealed in order to determine three slots.

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Tedious doesn’t even begin to describe how pompous and asinine the draft lottery is. That’s why it’s no surprise that the calls for lottery reform have been met with a new proposal by the NBA.

The league has apparently submitted another proposal to change the draft lottery format so it’s not as stupid as it is now, but it seems that all proposals no matter how smart are going to be dumbed down significantly by simply being associated with the draft lottery itself.

Per Zach Lowe from Grantland:

"The proposal also calls for the drawing of the first six picks via the Ping-Pong ball lottery, sources say. The current lottery system actually involves the drawing of only the top three selections. The rest of the lottery goes in order of record, from worst to best, after the top-three drawing is over.The league could implement lottery reform as early as next season, though there are many hurdles to overcome before then. And it’s important to note that the league has kicked around several different proposals with varying weights; the 11 percent figure for the first teams is not universal among those proposals, sources say."

It’s not a perfect system but it’s not half bad either. It’s also better than what they have now but that World Cup octopus from 2010 picking the teams at random would be a better system then the one the NBA is rolling with at the moment.

Be sure to check FanSided.com’s official NBA page to keep up to date on the latest news and rumors from around the league all summer long.

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