The NBA has finalized the 2020 NBA Draft lottery order by running tie-breakers on two sets of teams that had matching records. Shams Charania of The Athletic reported the results of the random process.
The big winner in all of this is the Sacramento Kings, whose pre-bubble record sat tied with that of the New Orleans Pelicans. Both teams went on to play at Disney World but the lottery odds were always set to be tethered to the record at the time of the shutdown.
The Kings will now sit in the No. 12 spot when the lottery is conducted, while the Pels settle in at No. 13. The difference is small but the don’t think that interim general manager Joe Dumars won’t still appreciate the advantage.
The Kings will now have a 1.3% chance of landing the top pick in the lottery this year and a 6.2% chance of falling in the top four. The Pels, in contrast, will have 1.2% and 5.7% odds respectively.
The second tie-breaker that was settled was a three-way tie between the Houston Rockets, Oklahoma City Thunder and Utah Jazz. As this was a tie for the No. 21 spot, none of these teams were lottery bound. As such, the order will lock in now ahead of the 2020 NBA Draft.
The Thunder won that tie-breaker, meaning they’ll pick at No. 21, followed by the Rockets at No. 22 and finally the Jazz at No. 23. The Thunder pick will transfer to the Philadelphia 76ers due to a previous trade and then Rockets pick will transfer to the Nuggets.
