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The historic day is finally, here Phoenix Suns fans. The 2018 NBA Draft Lottery is upon us.
It’s an important day for the franchise, no doubt. But it’s even more monumental when you consider that this will be the final time for the foreseeable future that a team will have a 25% shot at landing the top overall pick in next month’s NBA Draft.
Your Suns are that team, by virtue of masterfully cobbling together a disastrous season that featured 61 losses, second only to the 66 defeats they suffered in their inaugural season. Here are the odds that Phoenix will draft number one overall for the first time in franchise history.
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And boy did the Suns pick a good time to do all that losing.
Next season the game changes. Last September the NBA’s Board of Governors approved draft lottery reform in an attempt to help curb tanking. Under the new rules the likelihood that the league’s worst team will draft first overall will drop to 14%, odds shared by the teams will the three worst records in the NBA.
That proposal was approved by a 28-1-1 margin. Only the Oklahoma City Thunder voted “no,” while the Dallas Mavericks abstained. Here’s what the NBA Draft Lottery will look like next May.
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Of course those numbers don’t apply to us, because we’re getting out of the tank game anyway and have eyes for the 2019 postseason. Right?
Tune in tonight to see if your Suns can win the biggest prize that May 15th has to offer, the top pick in June’s NBA Draft. It’s all going down in Chicago at 7:30p ET. It’s on ESPN and you should make it appointment television.