The 2017 NBA Draft Lottery took place on Tuesday night in New York City and some teams walked away winners, while others came out losers
Few times are more stressful for basketball fans than the night of the NBA Draft Lottery. There’s obviously stress involved when you’re dealing with draft picks and positioning at the top. However, with the way teams deal first-round picks these days — or at least they have in recent years — things have become more stressful for fans. The 2017 NBA Draft Lottery was the epitome of such anxiety.
Coming into the Lottery, there was little that was certain. The Boston Celtics, who are currently in the Eastern Conference Finals, had the best odds for the top-overall pick thanks to the famed Paul Pierce trade with the Brooklyn Nets. What’s more, the Philadelphia 76ers had a chance at a big lottery. They would own the Los Angeles Lakers pick if it fell outside of the top-three. What’s more, they had the option to swap with the Sacramento Kings for whichever was the best pick.
There were plenty of other scenarios in play. But when the dust and ping pong balls settled, the Celtics ended up with the No. 1 overall pick. Following them, the Lakers held on and actually jumped up to the second-overall pick with the Sixers behind them at No. 3. You can see the full lottery order here.
Of course, with teams shuffling in terms of the odds versus how the ping pong balls determined the order, some teams came out better than others. Subsequently, let’s take a look at the winners and losers from the 2017 NBA Draft Lottery.
Winner: Los Angeles Lakers
The sweat on the palms of Lakers fans most likely could’ve flooded the Grand Canyon entering the NBA Draft Lottery. Despite landing Brandon Ingram with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2016 draft, this team is still missing the pieces to get back to their former glory. Thus, having a top-three pick would help the cause a great deal. As mentioned, though, there was the chance that they could lose that pick to the 76ers.
In fact, the Lakers only had a 46.9 percent chance of keeping the pick (Re: staying in the top three). Therefore, the City of Angels let out a huge sigh of relief when Magic Johnson was left standing after picks No. 4-14 had been announced. And now they have the opportunity to get one of the two best players in the draft, albeit whichever the rival Celtics don’t want with the top pick in the draft.
For most, the assumption is that Washington superstar Markelle Fultz will go to Boston with the No. 1 pick. Thus, that leaves the Lakers with the chance to land UCLA sensation Lonzo Ball. We can troll Big Baller Brand and his father all we want, but he’s a great asset for a team like the Lakers. With the young playmakers they have, having a player with the size and ability to facilitate in the manner that Ball can could really take them to the next level under Luke Walton moving forward.
Loser: New York Knicks
Granted, the New York Knicks only dropped one spot from where the odds had them entering the Lottery. They had the seventh-best odds and ended up at the No. 8 pick. But if there’s a more Knicks-y thing on the planet than having something like that happen, I’d hate to see what it is (it’s probably Carmelo-Phil, but still).
This is an organization that, under James Dolan, has essentially made one bad decision after another. And even when they make a good decision, such as the Kristaps Porzingis selection in 2015, it was almost made by default and not of their own devices. What’s more, they’ve simply supplemented that one good decision with more bad moves. Bringing in Joakim Noah and Derrick Rose certainly fit the bill in that regard. Put simply, the Knicks are the NBA front office equivalent of a blooper reel.
In a vacuum, is there really a huge difference between the No. 7 and 8 picks in the 2017 NBA Draft class? Probably not. This is a stacked class where Day-1 contributors should be found even past the lottery with relative ease. Given that the Knicks fell one spot thanks to the ping pong balls, though, it would be just their luck for the next superstar to go off the board with the seventh pick while they get either a bust or a mediocre contributor. The dumpster fire burns brighter.
Loser: Philadelphia 76ers
Ostensibly, the Philadelphia 76ers ended up in a relatively nice position coming out of the 2017 NBA Draft Lottery. They would’ve ended up picking fifth on draft night. But thanks to the Nik Stauskas trade with the Sacramento Kings, they were able to move up to the third pick. That’s a great position to be in as the specter of Sam Hinkie lingers in Philadelphia, bringing ethereal blessings to the Sixers.
With that said, it’s unfortunate for them in terms of the draft class that they weren’t able to procure one of the top-two picks in the 2017 NBA Draft. When you look at the Sixers roster, the talent in terms of big men is actually quite exquisite. Ben Simmons is coming as a versatile point forward. Then, of course, there’s Joel Embiid if he can stay healthy. Meanwhile, Dario Saric proved to be a high-caliber asset with Embiid sidelined due to injury in the 2016-17 season.
All due respect to T.J. McConnell, what the Sixers lack in terms of their building for the future is a game-changing guard. And while Dennis Smith Jr. has major promise and De’Aaron Fox is awesome, Fultz and Ball seem like can’t-miss prospects in that regard. Adding either would’ve made Philadelphia one of the most exciting young teams in the league — or more so than they already are. Now they seemingly have to settle and maneuver at No. 3. It’s a mild loss, but a loss nonetheless.
Winner: Boston Celtics (Loser by proxy: Cleveland Cavaliers)
Boston Celtics general manager Danny Ainge has been lambasted in recent years for clutching the Brooklyn Nets picks they owned and not moving them for other assets. Now that they have the top-overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, those who have raked him over the coals should probably be going to get him some burn ointment. You could make a viable argument that there’s no team in a better long-term position than the Celtics right now after the NBA Draft Lottery.
If they hold onto the No. 1 pick, they’re going to have an absolutely lethal backcourt on their hands. Isaiah Thomas has proven all season and into the playoffs that he’s not a flash in the pan, but a viable star in this league. And with the perpetually underrated Avery Bradley in the fold with nice supplementary pieces, adding either Fultz or Ball would be huge for them.
But then you factor in the fact that they could also use the No. 1 pick in a blockbuster trade and their position is even more enticing. The Celtics have long been linked to the likes of Paul George, Blake Griffin and Jimmy Butler. So with those guys potentially being on the market this offseason, Boston and Ainge now have a trump-card asset to throw into the mix.
As a result of all of this, you have to call the Cleveland Cavaliers a mini-loser in this. The Celtics and Cavs meet in the Eastern Conference Finals starting on Wednesday. And by all accounts, Cleveland should have no trouble getting past them, despite Boston having home-court advantage. While that may be so, though, the No. 1 pick and what it brings the Celtics severely lessens the stranglehold that the Cavaliers have on the Eastern Conference. Point blank, the NBA Draft Lottery put them on notice that their wide open window to dominate the East just narrowed a bit.
Winner: Sacramento Kings
Much like with talking about the Sixers, you might be confused as to why the Kings are a winner given some of the circumstances. After all, they actually won the third-overall pick in the draft. But thanks to an atrocious trade, they had to swap with Philly and move back to the fifth pick. While that may be the case, though, this is a franchise that could really start to turn things around given the overall position they’re in following the 2017 NBA Draft Lottery.
As stated, this is a deep draft class that could have stars and high-level contributors littered throughout the entirety of the first round. So for the Kings to walk away from the Lottery with two picks in the top 1, including the fifth-overall pick is huge. It’s especially huge when you consider the fact that they could’ve lost what is now the No. 10 pick if it had fallen in the 12-14 range.
Following the DeMarcus Cousins trade, it was clear that the Kings were, for lack of a better phrase, starting from square one. They were going to try and find another star and build from scratch. Having two top-10 picks in a loaded class to join two other former lottery picks with high hopes (Buddy Hield and Willie Cauley-Stein) is a great way to go about accomplishing that.
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Of course, this is the Kings we’re talking about and you can almost always count on a bone-headed move coming down the line. So if they go out and draft two busts, fans wouldn’t be surprised. But as of the NBA Draft Lottery before that happens, they’re definitely a winner.