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When Is NBA Draft Lottery? Start Time, How To Watch and Lottery Explained
When will the NBA Draft Lottery kick off? How to tune in? And, how does the lottery magic work? Read to know all the details.
The NBA Draft Lottery is right around the corner!
The NBA Draft Lottery determines the draft order for the first 14 picks in the upcoming NBA Draft. The team that wins the lottery gets the coveted No. 1 pick, which could be a franchise-changing player.
What time is the NBA draft lottery?
The 2024 NBA Draft Lottery will be held on Sunday, May 12, 2024.
How to watch NBA draft lottery?
Cable TV: You can watch it live on ESPN.
Streaming: If you have a cable or satellite TV subscription that includes ESPN, you can likely stream the lottery through their app.
Streaming Services: Several live TV streaming services carry ESPN, including YouTube TV and fuboTV. These services require a subscription, but some may offer free trials.
Official NBA App: The NBA app might not broadcast the lottery directly, but they will have highlights and analysis soon after.
Who participates in the NBA draft lottery?
All teams that missed the playoffs in the previous season are eligible for the lottery. This year, there could be up to 14 teams involved, including those who lost in the play-in games.
How does the NBA draft lottery work?
It's a bit like a regular lottery but with ping-pong balls! Teams are assigned ping-pong ball combinations based on their record. Worse records get more combinations, increasing their chances of winning.
Fourteen ping pong balls numbered 1 to 14 are used. There are four separate drawings, each determining one of the top four picks (No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, and No. 4). In each drawing, four ping pong balls are removed.
The team with the combination matching the drawn balls wins that pick. After the top four picks are set, the remaining lottery teams (picks 5-14) are slotted in reverse order of their regular-season record.
This year, the Detroit Pistons and Washington Wizards are tied for the best chance (14% each) of winning the No. 1 pick. It's considered a weaker draft year in terms of top prospects, but there will still be talented players available. Some teams might have traded away their draft picks, so they'll be waiting to see where those picks land after the lottery.
Once the order is set, all 30 NBA teams get a chance to pick new players, usually college standouts but also international players and players from the G League Ignite. The draft order goes from the worst record in the previous season to the best, with some exceptions due to trades.
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