The Detroit Pistons had a lot of losses this season. They finished with the second-worst record in the NBA and the worst on the team in nearly 30 years.
If it is of any use, it had its profit.
The Pistons won the NBA Draft lottery on Tuesday, winning the first draft pick for the July 29 draft and possibly a chance to select Oklahoma State guard Cade Cunningham. If the Pistons choose to pick, it will be the first time they’ve done so in the overall starting round since they selected Bon Lainer in 1970.
Houston will be second, Cleveland third and Toronto fourth. Orlando took fifth and eighth places, while Oklahoma City will choose sixth and Golden State took two places in the lottery: 7th, as part of the trade with Minnesota and its own selection with 14th.
The rest of the results are: Sacramento 9th, New Orleans 10th, Charlotte 11th, San Antonio 12th and Indiana 13th.
The lottery – 14 ping pong balls with the numbers 1 through 14 in a container – technically only determines the first four selections. The rest are predetermined by the position in which they ended up; Golden State, for example, had only a 2.4% chance that its pick would be anything but 14th.
The rest remained as expected. Eighth place, which was due to go to Chicago, ended with the Magic as part of the season trade for Nikola Vucevic.
The Thunder will have three first-round picks, but none better than sixth.
The first pick is expected to go to a player who played just one year at college – Cunningham, USC center Evan Mosley or Gonzaga point guard Jaeln Suggs – or someone from the development program like Jalen Green or forward Jonathan Kuminga.
For the moment the rest of the first round is like this: Washington is 15th, followed by Oklahoma City, Memphis, Oklahoma City, New York, Atlanta, New York, the Lakers, then Houston with the 23rd and 24th at-bats, followed by The Clippers, Denver, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Utah.
–
