2022 NBA Draft Lottery: Format, odds

While the current ongoing season of the NBA is in a full swing after four teams have been seeded to compete in their respective conference finals, the league released the 2022 NBA Draft Lottery set to take place in Chicago on Tuesday, May 17.

In addition to the Draft Lottery’s date and place, the NBA also included a list of players who will be representing each lottery team.

The lottery’s participants comprise 14 teams that failed to make it into this year’s NBA playoffs. Reportedly, the 2022 Draft Lottery will still be using a revamped lottery system that was used in the 2019 Draft which was based on the league’s Board of Governors’ change approval on September 28, 2017.

2022 Draft Lottery: Format

This 2022 NBA Draft Lottery is the 38th rendition of the annual NBA Draft Lottery. In this year's lottery, each team will not suffer from receiving a worse pick or any pick selections lower than the fifth pick. Following the pre-2019 system, according to the NBA, teams that record the worst record will be given the opportunity to pick no lower than the fourth.

This relatively new system presented a rather equal odds for each team. Moreover, the three teams that make the worst regular-season performance are eligible to have a 14 percent chance to win the lottery, in addition to having top-seed a 25 percent, second seed at 19.9 percent, and third a 15.6.

The rest of the teams will continue to proceed with their pick in inverse order after the drawings of the first four picks of the NBA Draft are completed. After the first four picks are conducted, lottery teams will select from positions five through 14 in inverse order of the 2021-2022 regular-season records.

ESPN will be responsible for the national broadcasting, and the drawings will be carried ahead of the broadcast schedule in a separate room. The process will be joined by an undisclosed number of the league’s officials, alongside representatives from accounting firm Ernst & Young.

Placed in a lottery machine are fourteen ping-pong balls numbered 1 to 14. Reportedly, there are a whopping 1,001 possible outcome combinations. The combination number will be given to the participating teams.

Team winning odds

The Houston Rockets, Orlando Magic, and Detroit Pistons each have a 14.00 percent probability of winning first picks. While the Oklahoma City Thunder came in the fourth position with 12.50 percent. Behind them are the Indiana Pacers with 10.50 percent and the Portland Trail Blazers with 9.00 percent.

The rest of the participating teams are the Sacramento Kings (7.50 percent), Los Angeles Lakers (6.00 percent), San Antonio Spurs (4.50 percent), Washington Wizards (3.00 percent), New York Knicks (2.00 percent), Los Angeles Clippers (1.50 percent), Charlotte Hornets (1.00 percent), and Cleveland Cavaliers (0.50 percent).

While the remainder of the 15-60 picks will not be left to the side, picks No. 15 to 30 will be slated for the remainder of the first-round draft selections, and the rest will entirely go to the second round, which, again, both are determined in reverse order of the regular-season record. This time around, all teams receive one selection for each round.