NBA
Are the teams that made it to the NBA play-in tournament out of the draft lottery?
Possible consequences on the NBA Draft lottery for the teams participating in the 2024 National Basketball Association play-in tournament.
During the 2020-2021 NBA season, the teams participating in the play-in tournament were still not necessarily out of the draft lottery. The play-in tournament involved teams that finished 7th through 10th in each conference, with the 7th and 8th-seeded teams having two opportunities to win one game to secure their playoff spot, while the 9th and 10th-seeded teams had to win two consecutive games to advance to the playoffs.
Draft order determined
The NBA draft lottery is a separate event that takes place after the regular season and before the NBA draft. It is a way to determine the draft order for the teams that did not make it to the playoffs. The teams with the worst records in the regular season have higher chances of getting higher draft picks - the top three teams will have a 14% chance of landing the No.1 pick. Still, even teams that made the playoffs or participated in the play-in tournament could be included in the draft lottery if they acquired Draft picks from other teams through trades.
Since the 2021-2022 season, the rules have changed slightly for the play-in tournament participants.
Odds for No. 1 Pick
- Team 1: 14%
- Team 2: 14%
- Team 3: 14%
- Team 4: 12.5%
- Team 5: 10.5%
- Team 6: 9%
- Team 7: 7.5%
- Team 8: 6%
- Team 9: 4.5%
- Team 10: 3%
- Team 11: 2%
- Team 12: 1.5%
- Team 13: 1%
- Team 14: 0.5%
The NBA Draft lottery
This Year’s NBA Draft Lottery will be held on May 12, 2024 in Chicago. The 14 teams that miss out on the NBA Playoffs qualified for the Draft Lottery. The probability index for each team won’t be officially verified until the regular season and Play-In Tournament concludes.
After the lottery ballot is conducted for the first four picks of the NBA Draft, the other teams will resume draft picking in reversed order according to their regular-season position.
Before the introduction of the play-in tournament, a team finishing 9th or 10th in its conference was eligible for the NBA Lottery Draft. Now it’s changed under these circumstances: one of those play-in teams will be suitable, but the other runs the risk of losing its eligibility if it is too eager to make it into the playoffs.
If a 9th or 10th-seeded team manages to win both games in the tournament, it will no longer participate in the NBA Draft Lottery. Similarly, a 7th or 8th-seeded team must lose both games to crawl into the Draft Lottery.
If the 9th or 10th-seeded teams win precisely one game, the team is still lottery-bound, and its lottery odds are, in a sense, unchanged and are still figured based on its regular season (72 games) winning percentage.
Similarly, if a 7th-seeded team dropped to 8th after the play-in tournament: the picks it owns in the Draft (in the range 15-60) will still be composed according to their regular-season record.