The American basketball league NBA will hold a lottery for the 2025 Draft. According to the rules of the competition, the 14 teams that were left out of the playoffs will be drawn to define the order of choices in the league’s main recruitment mechanism for new athletes.
The NBA Draft lottery determines the order of the top four picks among the 14 teams that did not qualify for the playoffs. Starting with fifth place, the order follows the reverse of the season rankings, respecting the results of the lottery.
1000 combinations of four numbers are distributed among the 14 teams. The three worst campaigns receive 140 combinations each (14%), the fourth worst gets 125 (12.5%) and so on until the 14th team, which receives seven (0.7%) combinations.
In addition, four balls numbered from 1 to 14 are drawn, forming combinations that determine the order of the picks. This year, the Utah Jazz, who had the worst campaign of the season, will be entitled to 140 of the 1,000 possible combinations.
The main purpose of the lottery is to prevent teams from purposefully losing games during the season to secure the first overall pick in the Draft.
Chances of each team in this year’s draw:
- Utah Jazz – 14,0%
- Washington Wizards – 14,0%
- Charlotte Hornets – 14,0%
- New Orleans Pelicans – 12,5%
- Philadelphia 76ers – 10,5%
- Brooklyn Nets – 9,0%
- Toronto Raptors – 7,5%
- San Antonio Spurs – 6,0%
- Houston Rockets – 3,8%
- Portland Trail Blazers – 3,7%
- Dallas Mavericks – 1,8%
- Chicago Bulls – 1,7%
- Sacramento Kings – 0,8%
- San Antonio Spurs (via troca) – 0,7%
NBA Draft, what is it?
The NBA Draft is an annual event where the league’s 30 teams recruit players to strengthen their rosters. Therefore, the order in which teams choose is determined by the lottery and the rankings of the previous season’s campaigns.
Thus, the worst performing teams get the first picks, while the best performing teams get the last pick. Additionally, teams are allowed to trade their picks among themselves for players or future draft picks.
As announced, this year, the NBA will hold the draft on June 25 (Wednesday), at 9 pm.
