For some NBA fan bases this season, the end of the regular season marks the beginning of a whole new season, the playoffs, but for others, it marks the beginning of a new era through the NBA Draft, and one of the most important events of the offseason for those lottery-bound teams and fan bases is the NBA Draft lottery, which takes place on May 15thand takes the bottom 14 teams and assigns the order of the picks based on a lottery system of 14 ping pong balls with different combinations assigned to different teams.
This year, the Phoenix Suns won the so-called “tank race”, posting a record of 21-61 and earning 25% odds at landing the number-one overall pick. They are followed by the Memphis Grizzlies, who own a 19.9% chance of getting the pick, as well as the Dallas Mavericks and Atlanta Hawks, who will have a coin flip on Friday, April 13, to see which team will have the third-best odds.
Here are the odds for all 14 lottery-bound picks, as well as the range of picks that each team can acquire through the lottery (odds provided by Tankathon).
| Team (acquiring team) | #1 Pick Odds | Range of Picks |
| Phoenix | 25% | 1-4 |
| Memphis | 19.9% | 1-5 |
| Dallas (pending coin flip) | 13.8% | 1-6 |
| Atlanta (pending coin flip) | 13.7% | 1-7 |
| Orlando | 8.8% | 1-3, 5-8 |
| Chicago (pending coin flip) | 5.3% | 1-3, 6-9 |
| Sacramento | 5.3% | 1-3, 7-10 |
| Brooklyn (to Cleveland) | 2.8% | 1-3, 8-11 |
| New York | 1.7% | 1-3, 9-12 |
| LA Lakers (to Philadelphia) | 1.1% | 1-3, 10-13 |
| Charlotte | 0.8% | 1-3, 11-14 |
| Detroit (to LA Clippers) | 0.7% | 1-3, 12-14 |
| LA Clippers | 0.6% | 1-3, 13-14 |
| Denver | 0.5% | 1-3, 14 |
The NBA Draft Lottery will take place on May 15thin Chicago, IL, and will be broadcast on either ESPN or ESPN2.