In fact, for many fans, the NBA draft lottery rules are still very mysterious. Now, we will reveal the NBA draft lottery procedures for everyone.
The NBA draft pick is determined in two parts. The 16 teams entering the playoffs are ranked according to their regular season records. The higher the ranking, the lower the draft pick. The rankings here only take into account regular season results, not playoff results. For example, the Dallas Mavericks in the 2006-07 season ranked first in the regular season record, but were eliminated by the Warriors in the first round. But they still only have the 30th overall pick in this year's draft.
Teams that fail to enter the playoffs must use the lottery to determine their draft picks.
Before the draw, the official will put 14 balls numbered 1-14 in a container and draw 4 balls from them to form a combination. This gives 1001 possible combinations. Excluding the combinations of 11, 12, 13, and 14, there are a total of 1,000 combinations. Subsequently, the 14 teams that failed to enter the playoffs were assigned to a certain number of combinations based on their regular season records. For example, the Heat, who have the last record in the regular season, will get 250 combinations, which means they have a 25% chance of winning the No. 1 pick. The Bulls who were previously selected as the No. 1 pick actually only had 17 combinations, and only had a 1.7% chance of winning the No. 1 pick.
Then the lottery begins. Whichever team the four numbers on the four balls belong to is drawn for the first time, that team will win the No. 1 pick. If you draw 11, 12, 13, or 14, put it back and draw again. The combination drawn in the second round belongs to the second pick. If the result of the second draw belongs to the team that has already won the No. 1 pick, the ball is returned to the container and the draw is repeated. And so on, until the winner of the top three picks, the second pick, and the third overall pick is decided.
After the first three picks are determined, the remaining 11 teams will arrange their draft picks in reverse order of regular season record.
The draft*** is conducted in two rounds, and each team’s draft order in the two rounds is the same