The last time a team that had the seventh-best odds at winning the NBA Draft lottery indeed won it, was back in 1986 when the Cleveland Cavaliers grabbed Brad Daugherty via a trade with the LA Clippers. That result though came prior to the NBA changing the NBA draft to a weighted lottery.
The last time a team that had the eighth-best odds at winning the NBA Draft lottery indeed won it was actually last year when...oh, yes, the Cleveland Cavaliers snatched up Kyrie Irving thanks to a trade they had made earlier with...you guessed it, the LA Clippers.
The point here isn't so much that the Clippers have one of if not the worst track records of all time when it comes to the NBA draft, but that there hasn't been much history on the side of a team with the seventh or eighth best lottery odds.
Which after last night's final slate of NBA games, is indeed what the Toronto Raptors are looking at.
Their win combined with Golden State's loss leaves the two clubs tied for the seventh-worst record in the league, while Sacramento's win over LA, leaves them tied with the team Toronto defeated, the New Jersey Nets.
In fact as you can see, we've got six teams tied for three spots based on win percentage, so we'll have coin flips aplenty to figure out the final lottery odds for May 30:
Rank |
Team Name |
Win Percentage |
1 |
.106 |
|
2 |
.303 |
|
3 |
.318 |
|
3 |
Cleveland Cavaliers |
.318 |
5 |
.333 |
|
5 |
New Jersey Nets |
.333 |
7 |
.348 |
|
7 |
Toronto Raptors |
.348 |
9 |
.379 |
|
10 |
.394 |
It's a disappointing finish any way you cut it considering one of the main goals this season was to secure another very high lottery pick. That could still happen of course, but with an average chance of about three percent at jumping into a top three spot, a lower finish definitely would have been more desirable.