Who won the NBA Draft Lottery in the past years and who did they pick?

The NBA lottery system has been around for a few decades, giving the 14 teams who failed to make the playoffs a chance to get the most promising players and improve their standings in the next season.

From coins to ping pong balls

The lottery is an update from the system that the NBA used to have to determine who got the No.1 draft pick. From 1966 to 1984, the league flipped a coin to decide which team with the worst record in each conference would get first choice.

In 1985, the NBA implemented the lottery system, which expanded the field to include all non-playoff teams, and not just the biggest loser per conference. In this system, numbers are drawn using ping pong balls, which are assigned numbers one to fourteen.

More on how the NBA draft lottery works here.

If you look at the list of the players who were chosen first in the NBA draft, you can see some big names that have already carved their name in NBA history, while others have made less of a mark.

The 2022 NBA draft lottery will take place Tuesday, May 17, at 8:00 p.m. ET / 5 p.m PT.

Here is the list of teams who won past raffles, and whom they chose as the No.1 draft pick.

List of No.1 overall picks in the NBA draft