Winners & Losers of the NBA Draft Lottery

The big winners You know, beyond the guys that , you know, deserve to, to earn the, if you want to use that word, the spot in the top two.

Memphis, which jumps up into the 3 spot, Chicago, which jumps up into the 4th spot.

You know, the Grizzlies.

They've they've had a tough go of it.

They've kind of ended the whatever era you want to call this, not the grit and grind era, but the era that Came after that, uh, I'm sure there's some Memphis fans who have some choice names for what's going on there right now, but not great, not great what's going on right now.

But look, they started to pull the plug when they traded Desmond Bain, then they traded Jarron Jackson Junior.

Now it's really only a matter of time before John Moranos.

Uh, I think a great opportunity for them to grab a franchise player and for Chicago.

Which has kind of got a clean slate at the moment.

Bryson Daniels taking over with the Bulls.

They've traded away a lot of their bad contracts.

Uh, they've got some cap flexibility moving forward.

Now they get the 4th overall pick, uh, with the chance to draft a, a blue chip guy.

Uh, who do you think of those two, which do you think is the bigger winner of the, of the bunch?

I mean, I think Memphis only because they're in just sort of such a strange situation with John Morant.

I mean, when they drafted, if we go all the way back to that draft, when they drafted John Morant, you know, the possibility that it felt like it was in front of them, certainly when he had such an exciting rookie year, it just felt like, oh my gosh, this is going to be a magic carpet ride, and the way it has ended up being has been anything but.

And obviously there were some really bright moments in between there, but it has been rough, and I think it has been rough in a gut punch.

Kind of way for a lot of the Grizzlies fans I talked to because they really believed in this guy and they were right there along with the franchise , giving him every benefit, benefit of the doubt every step along the way.

And I think, you know, it's very clear he has finally after many, many chances, worn out his welcome with not just the franchise but a lot of the fans.

So for them to get again, I just would like fans to be able the chance to get excited about something and I'm excited that those guys, you know, the fans in Memphis who are a very small, as you point out, but dedicated and very loyal group.

get to have that excitement for the Bulls.

I don't know, man.

I mean, this is yet another front office that we hope actually makes smart decisions, but who knows with the way things have gone in that franchise, you know, over the last 10, we can keep going back before that year's, you know, I made a joke in the lottery room that, oh, they got the 4th pick, but does that mean they're going to trade to go to the middle because all they want to do is seemingly go to the middle?

I mean, I, it just, we, we have no idea what they're going to be looking like as a franchise.

I think.

One of the biggest winners too is outside the top 4, and that is the LA Clippers.

You know, when they made that deal with the Pacers for, you know, getting a pick back that was protected except for 5th through 10th, and because the Pacers ended up 5th in this lottery and now have to give up their pick to the Clippers instead of having a number 5 pick in a draft with, with, you know, that is definitely 5 deep, that is a huge win for a Clippers franchise that was really looking at a lottery and a draft pick desert coming up.

Yeah, uh, just to go back to those top 4 spots, the, the one thing that I was hearing in the room from different people was to keep an eye on Oklahoma City.

Uh, Oklahoma City did not obviously land in the top 4.

They get the 12th overall pick that conveys from the Clippers, the, I believe that is that the end of the Shay Giltis Alexander draft capital?

Do we have one more?

I don't know so for, for the sake of .

Clippers fans, you gotta keep an eye on the, the Thunder here because the Thunder have too many draft picks.

Uh, they've almost got too much young talent right now.

They just, they're on the verge of sweeping the Lakers without Jalen Williams playing a single minute .

They are just absolutely loaded.

Um, could they package some of those young players and draft picks to move up in the draft to get another blue chip guy?

Um, could they trade Jalen Williams to get another blue chip guy?

I don't think Chicago would do a deal giving up the 4th overall pick in this draft unless you had Jalen Williams as part of it.

But if you're Oklahoma City, um, and you're thinking, and Sam Presty always thinks 2 or 3 chess moves ahead.

Uh, do you do something like that?

Do you package Jalen Williams with a draft pick?

Maybe you don't even have to throw a draft pick in.

Jalen Williams is that good.

He's all NBA second team and he's still very early in his young career.

Uh, but I think that's something that is worth watching as well.

How aggressive, if at all, does Oklahoma City get to move into that top four using some of their draft capital, using some of their young players, uh, to try to, Stretch out this window that they have to win championships even longer.

That's something I think you got to keep an eye on.

I, I do, I do agree with you on the Clippers being a big winner here.

Like it's been such an awful year for LA.

A lot of it of their own making, and we're still sitting here waiting to see what happens as a result of this investigation into the cap circumvention stuff.

Shout out to Pablo Torre for winning a damn Pulitzer for that, like Pulitzer, I should say for, for that.

Um, so we're still waiting on the outcome of that investigation, but this was a, a great moment for the Clippers.

Now, as they're starting to think about life beyond Kawhi Leonard, they now have a top 5 pick.

They've got a 5th overall pick to, to do something with.

They are definitely a big winner and Indiana.

They rolled the dice.

It came up snake eyes.

Didn't go well for them.

Came up craps.

Came up.

It just, it, it didn't work.

Uh, I don't, I, I understand why they did it.

Uh, I still think, you know, getting a twenty-something year old center in Zubach is gonna help them next year.

You get Tyrese Halliburton back, but man, that's tough.

Did you see the Kevin Pritchard statement?

I did.

I did.

I saw some of his interviews afterwards too.

Like he, he seemed pretty bummed about it.

Like I think he knows exactly what.

What this team missed out on with this, well, it's the worst of all of all possible outcomes, right?

I mean, it's one thing to gamble, OK, it's not going to fall between, first of all, you're missing out on getting one of the top 4 picks, which you were certainly in line for.

Then on top of that, um, you missed out on, you know, you could have been, been thrown in a different direction, you know, sort of thing.

I don't think they could have gotten past 10 with the way the odds were stacked, but not.

Only did you have to end up giving up the pick, but you ended up having to give the number 5 pick of all of the different picks.

It could have been the number 10 pick, right, that you had to give up.

Again, I don't think they could have quite made it to 10, but you know what I mean.

It could have been the back end of that, and instead it was literally the best possible version of a pick that you had to give up.

And I thought it was interesting, and it's worth reading for people who didn't see it.

He put out on social media, he said, I'm really sorry.

This is of course Kevin Pritchard who runs the Pacers.

I'm really sorry to all our fans.

I own taking this risk.

Surprised it came up 5th after this year.

I thought we were due some luck, but please remember this team deserved to stand a starting center to compete with the best teams next year.

We have always been resilient.

So I thought that was, honestly, we just don't see that kind of transparency in professional sports that often.

Somebody immediately in the moment.

Sort of taking the hit, standing up and saying this was me, this is on me, this was my risk.

I thought it was the best decision.

And, and the reaction from fans I saw on social media, a little bit mixed, but a lot of people standing behind Kevin Pritchard on this one, Pacers fans who felt like, look, you, you know, I think they appreciated his honesty and the fact that he took a risk in the best interest of the franchise.

So I think a lot of Pacers fans, frankly, had the same reaction you did, Chris.

Yeah, I mean, what it boils down to is, would you trade the 5th overall pick for Avika Zubach?

Uh, probably not.

Probably not if we're being real.

Um, maybe you would trade 7 or 8 for Zubach because Zubach is still an elite center, uh, but that, that's the risk you take when you make a deal like that.

I know Pritchard was saying that we had hoped to protect it even further, hope to not have to, could have protected throughout the lottery, but that's just not the way.

It shook out.

They took a chance.

It didn't work out.

They're still gonna be really good.

They're just not gonna have that good young player to, uh, put opposite Halliburton and Zubach, the guy that they were hoping to add on to that mix.

Uh, other losers in this lottery, the Brooklyn Nets.

Can't catch a break.

Last year they dropped from 6 to 8.

This year they dropped from 3 to 6.

Uh, they drafted 5 guys, Rachel, in the first round last year.

I don't think any of them's a franchise player.

Like some of them are good.

I don't think any of them's gonna develop into that number 1 guy.

They needed, they needed that guy.

They needed the top 3 pick.

They needed Debana.

They needed Peterson.

They needed Boozer.

They need somebody to bring relevance to that team.

There's that word again, uh, and they're not gonna get him.

You know, Joey was in that room.

For a minute there it looked like somebody, somebody shot his dog.

Like he just, he had slumped shoulders there as this, uh, lottery draw wrapped up, uh, just a, a tough night for the Brooklyn Nets and then Sacramento.

Again, An irrelevant Situation.

Like, no team needed an infusion of young talent more than the Sacramento Kings.

They were just, they just got a roster that is just going nowhere.

No great young talent on the roster right now.

And they wind up with the 7th overall pick.

They dropped a couple of spots, uh, Yeah, tough situation for both those teams.

I think with the Nets, like, I, I feel, I feel more bad for Sacramento because Sacramento, like, well, a couple of things.

Sacramento didn't tank in the traditional way.

Like Sacramento is just bad.

They're just a bad team.

Like they had some injuries early in the season, they're just a bad team.

Down the stretch of the season.

They, they played well.

Like they were 3 and 3 down the stretch, which puts them in the position to have to have a coin flip with Utah to have the best odds for 4th.

Utah winds up winning that coin flip.

Utah gets the 2nd overall pick.

The Kings get 7.

Like that is just, I mean, that's the most Sacramento Kings thing ever though, right?

I mean, isn't that like.

Exactly what you would expect to happen to that team.

Absolutely brutal for, for the Kings.

And now, like to fast forward a bit next year when these lottery odds, odds are when the lottery system's probably gonna change, you know, a team like the Kings is probably gonna get punished because the Jazz are gonna be pretty good, uh.

Yeah, Washington's gonna be pretty good.

You know, uh, the, the Chicago, I mean, the teams that are drafting in those, those spots, they're gonna be a lot better.

They're not gonna be in that position next year.

The bottom three teams, if this league rule goes through, are going to get relegated outside of the top 3.

So the King's gonna pay the price next season, which is gonna put them in the exact same position probably to be drafting like maybe 10 if that's where the ceiling or the floor is, uh, for that team.

So I, I, it's tough for Sacramento.

I'm not sure who you think it's tougher for who had a worse day, Brooklyn or Sacramento, but they both had pretty tough days.

I mean, I think they both had tough days, you know, you and I haven't had a chance to talk about this new lottery proposal coming in.

I just, you know, you know my feelings in general.

However, I just don't understand why we are reacting to the symptom instead of trying to fix the problem.

There are not enough avenues right now between the restrictions put in by the CBA current CBA, between the restrictions put in by this new anti-sort of tanking thing.

But there's so many different ways that teams have been cut off from getting better.

And now you are looking at teams like, as you say, Sacramento, Brooklyn, whoever ends up in that bottom three next year that will be a legitimately bad team.

Let's not pretend that the Sacramento Kings have been merrily tanking this whole time.

They have been just a terrible team, and they will not have now even the draft, even getting a top draft pick, or the odds, the best odds of getting the top draft pick as a way to get better.

And I think that, you know, it was a good idea that the NBA proposed this as a temporary solution.

I believe it's only a 2 year maybe solution.

And I think that they will hopefully see what happens in a way of hm, this might not be it either.

This might have been an overreaction.

And I'm not unconvinced they weren't looking for an overreaction.

I think that they had such bad PR from some of the stuff going on this season that the idea of sort of visibly bringing the hammer down was something that was appealing and not making it a long term rule was a way of sort of covering themselves in case it really worked out badly.

So, you know, we'll be, I'll be interested to see if it passes.

I have heard some teams who are in opposition to it.

I don't know if that will happen by the time they get to the votes.

A lot of Time in the NBA dissent gets smothered before we get to the vote part, but we'll just have to see.

It's going to be strange.

These lottery ball combinations that we have gotten used to, as complicated and weird as they are of seeing numbers be drawn up, that's not going to happen.

You're just going to have team ping pong balls with team logos on it, I believe, is that right?

And then, you know, so and so will have so many more or less logo ping pong balls in there, and then the ping pong ball will come up, and there you go.

That's the team that gets that slot.

So insane.

Like it is, it is an overreaction.

And, but I, I mean, I get what's the, what did they say?

How many teams get into the like main lottery, get equal chances at the top 8 this rule passes 18, which includes games, the includes the winner of the 9-10 game, I wanna say, or 8-9 game.

I wanna say that the Warrior.

All I know is that is that the Steph Curry's Warriors could have gotten the number one overall pick this year under next year's system.