Rarely has more ink been spilled about the NBA draft lottery, which takes place in the US tonight. The stakes are therefore particularly high this year: every team dreams of the French top talent Victor Wembanyama. But how exactly does the draft work and why is losing sometimes more interesting than winning? We explain it for you.
What is the draft?
In the annual draft, teams can pick up new players from a pool of young talents. These are players who have made themselves available for the draft and want to take their chance in the NBA.
Teams that performed poorly last season have a greater chance of choosing the best talents.
The idea behind the draft is therefore to give lesser teams the opportunity to raise their level with young, new players and thus create as level a playing field as possible.
NBA boss Adam Silver (l) with Paolo Banchero, the number 1 in the 2022 draft.
How does it work?
The draft is preceded by a lottery, which takes place tonight in the US. On the basis of ping pong balls, lots are drawn which teams can choose first from the talent pool. The 14 teams that did not make the playoffs qualify for that “draft lottery”.
The worse a team has performed, the greater the chances in the lottery. The 3 worst teams of the season (Detroit, Houston and San Antonio) all have a 14% chance of the coveted 1st “pick” – the 1st pick – in the draft.
New Orleans, the team with the best report of all teams that failed to make the playoffs, has the smallest chance of drawing the 1st pick: only 0.5%.
The draft lottery only determines the first 4 positions in the draft. From 5th place in the draft, the order in which the remaining teams finished in the regular season is reversed.
| odds in the draft lottery | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| W-V | chance of #1 | ||
| 1. | Detroit | 17-65 | 14,0 % |
| 2. | Saint Anthony | 22-60 | 14,0 % |
| 3. | Houston | 22-60 | 14,0 % |
| 4. | Charlotte | 27-55 | 12,5 % |
| 5. | Portland | 33-49 | 10,5 % |
| 6. | Orlando | 34-48 | 9,0 % |
| 7. | Indiana | 35-47 | 6,8 % |
| 8. | Washington | 34-47 | 6,7 % |
| 9. | Utah | 35-47 | 4,5 % |
| 10. | Dallas | 38-44 | 3,0 % |
| 11. | Chicago (-> Orlando) | 40-42 | 1,8 % |
| 12. | Oklahoma City | 40-42 | 1,7 % |
| 13. | Toronto | 41-41 | 1,0 % |
| 14. | New Orleans | 42-40 | 0,5 % |
This is how the draft lottery went in 2022:
Why is losing interesting?
Anyone who has been paying attention can already answer the question: who loses more, gives himself a greater chance of a lottery pick and therefore a greater chance of a better player.
The phenomenon of losing on purpose in order to boost one’s own lottery odds even has a name: “tanking”. Teams that realize that they have no chance of making the play-offs often prefer to lose. That way, thanks to the draft, they can build a stronger team for the future.
Tanking is not uncontroversial, especially when it happens a little too conspicuously. Dallas was fined $750,000 last month for tanking. The Mavericks still had a shot at the postseason, but deliberately entered with a weakened team in order to participate in the draft lottery.
When is the draft itself?
The draft lottery, where the order for the draft is determined, is today. The draft itself, where the teams effectively pick new players, is traditionally only after the playoffs.
This year, the draft will take place on Thursday, June 22. Only then will we know which players end up with which teams, although there has been no doubt for some time now about who will be chosen first next month.
How is Victor Wembanyama?
The reason why many teams have taken defeats with a smile this season comes from France. His name: Victor Wembanyama.
The 19-year-old French prodigy measures more than 2.20 m and has an unprecedented arsenal of offensive weapons. Dribbling, dunks, three-pointers: he can do it all. With his impressive wingspan of 2.44m, he is also ubiquitous defensively, with rebounds and block shots.
The marketing machine around Wembanyama has been running at full speed for almost a year. The matches of his club Metropolitans 92, based in Paris, are even broadcast live on the NBA channels.
Teams, coaches, players, ex-players: everyone is licking their lips. “He’s a freak,” Dallas legend Dirk Nowitzki said recently. “You always think you’ve seen it all, but this kid is incredible.”
It must have been since 2003 and LeBron James since a young player entered the NBA with so many credentials and such high expectations.
Exactly 20 years later, the ping pong balls will be viewed with suspicion again tonight. For one team, the past season will soon be forgotten and the future looks very bright. “The NBA can become his league,” said Nowitzki. “For a very long period of time.”
2023-05-16 11:15:11
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