Updated NBA Draft Lottery Odds: Final Standings
By Josh Hill
The NBA Draft Lottery won’t take place until May, but for now we have a good idea of who might win based on the final standings.
The NBA season has come to an end, and for half of the league it means that the rebuilding process over the offseason has officially begun. For the teams headed to the playoffs, the NBA Draft is a distant concern, but for the other teams who didn’t make it in, the NBA Draft Lottery is the most exciting thing they can look forward to over the next few months.
All season long it appeared the New York Knicks were going to end up with the No. 1 pick in the draft — or, at least the best odds to land that pick.
That’s not what has happened though, as a recent burst of winning has bumped the Knicks back and they are now looking at just the second-best chance to win the No. 1 pick this summer. The best odds have landed with the Minnesota Timberwolves — but it wouldn’t be the first time they had the best odds and then lost out on the No. 1 pick.
A few years ago Minnesota had the best odds to win the NBA Draft and ended up losing that pick to the Cleveland Cavaliers.That pick was Kyrie Irving, leaving the Wolves with Derrick Williams.
Here’s a look at the complete NBA Draft Lottery odds and the tentative NBA Draft Order now that the season is over.
2015 Draft Lottery Order
| Pick | Team | W | L | Odds | Trades | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Minnesota Timberwolves | 16 | 66 | 25% | Will send to the Celtics if outside top 12 | ||
| 2 | New York Knicks | 17 | 65 | 19.9% | |||
| 3 | Philadelphia 76ers | 18 | 64 | 15.6% | |||
| 4 | Los Angeles Lakers | 21 | 61 | 11.9% | Will send to the Sixers if outside top 5 | ||
| 5 | Orlando Magic | 25 | 57 | 8.8% | |||
| 6 | Sacramento Kings | 29 | 53 | 6.3% | Will send to the Bulls if outside top 10 | ||
| 7 | Denver Nuggets | 30 | 52 | 4.3% | |||
| 8 | Detroit Pistons | 32 | 50 | 2.8% | |||
| 9 | Charlotte Hornets | 33 | 49 | 1.7% | |||
| 10 | Miami Heat [5] | 37 | 45 | 1.1% | Will send to Sixers if outside top 10 | ||
| 11 | * Utah Jazz | 38 | 44 | 0.8% | |||
| 12 | *Indiana Pacers | 38 | 45 | 0.7% | |||
| 13 | Phoenix Suns | 39 | 43 | 0.6% | |||
| 14 | Oklahoma City Thunder | 45 | 37 | 0.5% |
The Thunder will not have their pick fall out of the Top 18, which means they are not in danger of losing it to the 76ers. Minnesota won’t lose their pick either unless somehow they get the worst luck of the draw and find themselves going from the top of the draft order to the bottom of the lottery.
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It’s going to be interesting to see which way the ping pong balls bounce, but the teams who didn’t make the playoffs can start building for next season now and teams on the brink like OKC and Indiana are about to get richer with top draft picks while sleeping giants like Minnesota, Charlotte and Phoenix add more young talent to their already growing roster.
The NBA Draft Lottery is scheduled to take place in the middle of May.
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