Source: Nike/Jordan Brand / Nike/Jordan Brand
As the world waited and watched, the day finally came when the National Basketball Association held it’s Draft Lottery to see which team would get the first pick in the upcoming NBA Draft.
When it was all said and done, and when all the balls had dropped and rolled around, and all the teams were sitting on the edge of their seats waiting to see if their lives were about to change, it was finally done!!!
After all the waiting, The New Orleans Pelicans won the right to choose first in the NBA Draft coming up next week,.
For the Pelicans to win the lottery, the three teams with the worst records this season — the Knicks (17-65), the Cleveland Cavaliers (19-63) and the Phoenix Suns (19-63) — had to lose again. They each came into the night with a 14 percent chance of getting the top pick in a revamped system designed to reduce the value of finishing at the very bottom. The Knicks ended up with the No. 3 pick, the Cavaliers with No. 5 and the Suns with No. 6.
The overall lottery played out like this (with the picks from 15 to 30 coming in reverse order of the 2018-19 standings):
1. New Orleans Pelicans
2. Memphis Grizzlies
3. New York Knicks
4. Los Angeles Lakers
5. Cleveland Cavaliers
6. Phoenix Suns
7. Chicago Bulls
8. Atlanta Hawks (via Dallas)
9. Washington Wizards
10. Atlanta Hawks
11. Minnesota Timberwolves
12. Charlotte Hornets
13. Miami Heat
14. Boston Celtics (via Sacramento)
