NBA Draft Lottery 2018: Is the lottery rigged?
By Tyler Watts
The 2018 NBA Draft Lottery takes place on May 15. Today, we examine if the lottery is rigged in a conspiracy theory special.
NBA Draft Lottery night is a time of hope for 14 teams. Their regular season did not go the way they planned, but that Tuesday evening is their chance to grab the number one overall pick. It is a hope for a superstar with franchise-altering talent. The lottery is a dream of securing the next Michael Jordan or LeBron James because of a little luck.
The NBA Draft Lottery is here again. It takes place on Tuesday, May 15 in Chicago. De’Aaron Fox will be representing the Sacramento Kings on stage.
Today, we examine if the lottery is rigged. A Royal Pain did an in-depth feature on this topic 12 months ago which you can read here. The article features four cases that make the proceedings look a bit sketchy. Let us examine last year’s data point and see if that sways our opinions.
2017 lottery
Last year’s lottery seemed to fall almost too perfectly. Remember, the Celtics had the best odds for top picks with the Suns, Lakers, and 76ers just behind. You can view the final odds here. Also, the Lakers needed to stay in the top three to keep their pick and Philadelphia had the right to swap the Kings if Sacramento had the higher choice.
Related Story: Kings 15 best draft picks of All-time
Too good to be true
Conspiracy theorists had the Lakers getting the number one selection, but perhaps the NBA just threw you off the scent. The three teams drawn on lottery night were Boston at number one, the Lakers at two, and Sacramento at three. It was perfect.
The Celtics were not taking Lonzo Ball meaning Los Angeles kept their pick and got the player they wanted from day one. The lottery also held another historic franchise selecting at one, and it allowed the Sixers into the top three because of that swap.
It is worth noting, the Sixers and Celtics later traded picks just days before draft night.
The NBA needs all three of those franchises to be successful mind you. The Lakers and Celtics are iconic teams and have won the most and second most NBA championships. Philadelphia had to succeed after “The Process” lead to years of tanking and losing. The league needed them to continue their upward trajectory to re-engage their fan base.
The team that lost out most was the Phoenix Suns. They selected fourth. Did Phoenix move down because of fate or the league wanting higher profile teams to choose higher?
Form your own opinion
Is the 2017 NBA Draft Lottery the fifth and final incriminating piece of evidence? Make that judgment for yourself. The league will never actually tell us if they are fixing it. Perhaps all five are a matter of coincidence, or maybe it is something more. That is a decision you will have to judge for yourself.
Final thoughts
The NBA Draft Lottery takes place on May 15. The Sacramento Kings are currently selecting seventh, but have a 5.3 percent chance of picking first overall. Hopefully, the Kings get lucky on Tuesday and win the top choice.
If the lottery is indeed fixed, the teams that are most likely to grab the top spot would be the Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Philadelphia 76ers or Boston Celtics. The best odds of those four teams is Chicago at 5.3 percent, so stay tuned to see what happens.
Next: Sacramento Kings 2018 draft big board 1.0
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