Talk:NBA draft lottery

lottery team
I'm not sure that anyone calls a non-playoff team in the NFL a 'lottery team'. I'm deleting that blurb. YoungAristotle 18:17, 9 March 2007 (UTC)
 * It's actually a common term.  Enigma msg  21:48, 18 May 2011 (UTC)

Someone on ESPN just mentioned that the NBA Draft lottery was implemented because of something the Houston Rockets did. Is anyone familiar with the situation?67.180.27.77 07:43, 28 December 2005 (UTC)

At the end of the 1983-84 season, Houston allegedly tanked its last few games of that season in order to give themselves a chance to secure Hakeem Olajuwon with the first pick in the 1984 Draft. User: Wayman975 16:00 01 October 2006

This article is not as informative as it could be, mainly because of the focus on history, rather than what the draft lottery is and how it works. The historical information ought to lower down the page, and the page should start with the basics of the draft lottery and how it works.

Answer to above question There was speculation that the Rockets were losing games intentionally late in the season in order to have the worst record to qualify for the first pick coin flip. The lottery stopped that since teams weren't assured of drafting in the top two based on having the worst conference record.

way too many 'thus' in this article. Chensiyuan 15:01, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

I believe that the odds chart presented in this article is wrong.

My calculation:

2006 Odds    1st        2nd        3rd         Another Blazers      25.000%    24.748%    24.467%     25.785% Bulls        19.900%    19.820%    19.696%     40.584% Bobcats      13.800%    13.832%    12.924%     59.444% Hawks        13.700%    13.733%    14.615%     57.952% Raptors       8.800%     8.860%     9.002%     73.338% Timberwolves  5.300%     5.352%     5.423%     83.925% Celtics       5.300%     5.352%     5.426%     83.923% Rockets       2.300%     2.328%     2.366%     93.006% Warriors      2.200%     2.227%     2.264%     93.309% Sonics        1.100%     1.114%     1.134%     96.652% Magic         0.800%     0.811%     0.825%     97.564% Hornets       0.700%     0.709%     0.722%     97.868% 76ers         0.600%     0.608%     0.619%     98.173% Jazz          0.500%     0.507%     0.515%     98.478%

The following section is pure speculation and does not really belong in this article. There is absolutely no factual basis to state that the draft lottery is rigged.

spread sheet is wrong
in the first part of the process section you list that the #3 spot has 156 combinations, 15.6% chance and the #4 spot has 119 combinations, 11.9% chance....which i believe is correct. However, below that in the spread sheet you give the #3 and #4 spots only 138 and 137 chances respectivly...this is wrong. All other entries appear to correlate with the first correct chart on the article page.

New Method for 2007?
From an AP article, April 20, 2007, 8:06 PM ET: "The lottery will be held May 22 to determine the top three picks. The other 11 teams in the lottery will then pick in inverse order of their records." So, all 14 picks would NOT be determined by lottery if this is accurate.

Article is viewable @ http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2007/news/story?id=2844421


 * It's always been that way... &mdash;MC 22:17, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

Error in history section?
Is it true that all seven picks in the 1985 lottery were chosen at random? I thought the lottery then was for only the #1 overall pick. Regardless, whatever year it was that the process was changed so that the top three picks were drawn by lotto (leaving the rest in order of record) needs to be added to the article. I know that change occurred pretty early on (within the first 5-7 years of the lottery. Funnyhat 02:57, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Removal of the 2008 Draft Odds
I feel that having the 2008 draft odds in Wikipedia is completely out of place - that should be on a fan page, or at least on its own specific page about the 2008 draft, which i also feel is unneeded. if anyone has a problem with this idea, feel free to highlight why, but at this point I feel a deletion is justified. Dudebri1 (talk) 00:44, 21 May 2008 (UTC)

Extra combination
There are actually 1001 possible combinations when 4 balls are drawn from 14 possibilities.

n = 14!/(10! * 4!)

what happened to the extra combination? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.168.231.2 (talk) 11:53, 21 May 2008 (UTC)

I'm not sure where I saw it, but that last combination I believe is just a blank and a redraw is performed if that combination comes up. I suppose it was easier to get the percentages they wanted with 1000 combinations. heat_fan1 (talk) 14:30, 21 May 2008 (UTC)


 * This is listed in the article. "That is, the total of 24,024 (14! / 10!, or 14x13x12x11) possible permutations is reduced by a factor of 24, to 1,001 combinations. Of these, 1 outcome is disregarded and 1,000 outcomes are distributed among the 14 non-playoff NBA teams. The combination 11-12-13-14 (in any order that those numbers are drawn) is not assigned and it is ignored if drawn; this has never occurred in practice."Zhinz (talk) 23:38, 21 May 2008 (UTC)

Why don't they just use ten numbered balls (0-9), where the order in which the ball is drawn matters. That would generate 1,000 permutations and seems a lot simpler way of conducting the draw. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.12.231.32 (talk) 00:28, 3 January 2009 (UTC)
 * no it would not generate 1000 combinations. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 139.68.134.1 (talk) 17:35, 12 March 2014 (UTC)

NBA draft
How does the NBA determine which combinations go to the teams? 65.219.250.129 (talk) 13:20, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

If pick falls out of the lottery?
The Cavs get Sacramento's first round pick if it falls out of the lottery. Is that just if the King's don't get pick one,two,or three or if Sacramento makes the playoffs? I'm confused? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.88.171.180 (talk) 17:18, 1 April 2012 (UTC)


 * I am glad to see that you are discussing a topic. However, as a general rule, talk pages are for discussion related to improving the article, not general discussion about the topic.
 * In respond to your question, the Cavaliers would only get the Kings' first-round pick if the Kings make the playoffs. Here are some external links which mention future draft pick protections: NBADraft.net and Pro Sports Transactions. The term "lottery pick" denotes a draft pick whose position is determined through the lottery, i.e. the first 14 picks. — MT (talk) 05:08, 2 April 2012 (UTC)

1986 Celtics
OK, so why did the Celtics, who were 1985-86 champions, get second pick in the 1986 NBA Draft??? BigSteve (talk) 17:04, 26 January 2013 (UTC)
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986_NBA_draft — Preceding unsigned comment added by 139.68.134.1 (talk) 17:19, 12 March 2014 (UTC)

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External links modified
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Significant Digits On Spreadsheet
I'm not sure that there is any value to having the odds calculated to 9 significant digits on the spreadsheet. This is distracting, making it more difficult to read the important digits quickly, it makes the page too wide, and it is completely irrelevant (the subtleties of the expected odds over one billion NBA drafts mean little when the form of the lottery changes every couple of decades). I would recommend reverting to 3 significant digits for readability. 23.123.5.59 (talk) 15:25, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

Agreed, I will update it. I think it makes more sense to change it to percentages too since the rest of the article has the chances in percentages. I will cut it off at <0.01% chance if it gets to that. Peppermacks (talk) 19:32, 20 August 2020 (UTC)