How does NBA Draft Lottery work? Odds, predictions, and more

The NBA playoffs have arrived, and the top contenders each have their sights set on staying alive for as long as possible. However, for the teams that did not extend their season, their focus has already shifted towards next year and doing whatever it takes to improve the roster.

At the top of this list is the NBA draft lottery, in which teams will find out where they will be selecting in the upcoming draft. The lottery is set to take place on May 16, and the first 14 picks of the June 22 draft will be decided during this event.

The Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets finished with the three worst records in the NBA, giving them each a 14.0% chance at the No. 1 pick. This year's draft seems to have a little more at stake as expected No. 1 pick Victor Wembanyama has caught the attention of NBA front offices everywhere.

The Charlotte Hornets have the next best chance at the top pick with 12.5% odds, and the Portland Trail Blazers are right behind them at 10.5%. Following these top five, the Orlando Magic (9% chance), Washington Wizards (6.8%), Indiana Pacers (6.7), Utah Jazz (4.5), and Dallas Mavericks (3%) round out the expected top 10.

Why the NBA lottery is in place

Since one player can make such a significant impact on the court, tanking has become popular in the NBA. The league has made an effort to crack down on this, including investigating the recent loss by the Mavericks in which the starters were pulled from the game to increase their chances of losing.

There have been many more drastic examples of this and to make the concept of tanking less appealing, the NBA has put the lottery system in place. The first lottery was held in 1985 in anticipation of Patrick Ewing's entry into the league, and the latest change came in 2019 to prevent the worst team from having a significantly higher chance of landing the top pick. Before this, the worst team had a 25% chance of picking first, and that is now down to 14%.

Each lottery team will be anxiously awaiting the results of the ping pong balls used to decide the order. There are plenty of exciting young prospects outside of Wembanyama, so all teams will have an opportunity to add a key franchise contributor.

For now, these teams will have to wait and watch the playoffs and hope the ping pong balls will allow them the opportunity to find a player capable of bringing them back to these types of postseason matchups.