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Despite having the odds against them, the 2024 NBA Draft lottery favored the Atlanta Hawks, who took the first overall pick. The Hawks arrived with just a 3% chance of winning the first pick and will now have to carefully study their needs against the multiple possibilities offered by the 2024 class.
The lottery results showed the Washington Wizards with the second selection, the Houston Rockets will have the third, followed by the San Antonio Spurs with the fourth, and the Detroit Pistons will close the top five.
The rest of the teams that entered the lottery were ordered as follows:
- Charlotte Hornets
- Portland Trail Blazers
- San Antonio Spurs
- Memphis Grizzlies
- Utah Jazz
- Chicago Bulls
- Oklahoma City Thunder (from Houston)
- Sacramento Kings
The 2024 NBA draft class
Last year, the San Antonio Spurs won the lottery, and their choice was clear. French center Victor Wenbanyama was the best prospect that year and practically any team would have selected him. This year, however, the choice seems much more complicated.
Top college prospects include two UConn stars, guard Stephon Castle and center Donovan Clingan. Kentucky also offers two undisputed talents to the deck, guards Rob Dillingham and Reed Sheppard. Forwards Dalton Knecht (Tennessee) and Cody Williams (Colorado) are two other players teams will consider.
Foreign talent is not far behind. French forward Zaccharie Risacher, Serbian guard Nikola Topic, and French center Alex Sarr have garnered attention in recent months.
Finally, G League Ignite guards Matas Buzelis and Ron Holland have also entered the conversation, with analysts considering that their names could appear among the first places in the draft.
How does the draft lottery work?
Unlike the NFL Draft, where the selection order is the reverse of the regular season standings, in the NBA, teams that did not make the postseason enter a lottery to determine who will have the first college pick.
Teams that enter the lottery receive four-numbers combinations, and those with the worst record receive more combinations. For the draw, ping pong balls numbered 1 to 14 are placed in a lottery machine. In each turn, four balls are drawn, which match the numbers awarded to one of the teams, just as happens in PowerBall or Megamillions.
Four draws are made to determine the teams that will pick in the draft's first four rounds. Turns five through 14 are set in the reverse order of their position in the regular season.