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Tonight is the night for the NBA Draft Lottery! After months of waiting and watching every Brooklyn Nets box score with great interest, we finally find out where our first pick of the first round is going to land.
How to watch
Date and time: Tuesday, May 17, 8 pm ET
TV: ESPN
Online: WatchESPN
Lottery Odds
Here are the odds for each of the possible picks.
1st pick: 15.6%
2nd pick: 15.7%
3rd pick: 15.6%
4th pick: 22.4%
5th pick: 26.5%
6th pick: 4.2%
Or if you prefer, here's a pretty pie chart courtesy of the Boston Celtics:
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Boston Celtics - lottery odds
If the Celtics land one of the top 2 picks (a 31.3% chance) they would presumably have the option of picking either Ben Simmons or Brandon Ingram. If they pick Nos. 3, 4, 5, or (heaven forbid) 6, then things get a bit more complicated. No matter how the picks line up tonight, it is assumed that the Celtics will be active in the trade market. The higher the pick, the more leverage and options Danny Ainge will have in those discussions.
Remember that in 2007 it was a disappointing gut-punch result in the lottery. However, the team was able to turn that 5th pick into Ray Allen and later land Kevin Garnett, which led directly to a 2008 NBA title.
History may not repeat itself in quite that way, but the lesson is that lottery luck isn't the only path to future success and a bad result on lottery night isn't always a crushing blow. Especially when you have the array of options available to Danny Ainge this summer.
With that said, it would be great if the lottery luck favored us this time around. Think lucky thoughts!