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Even though the Phoenix Suns had a sub-20 win season, all signs are pointing to lottery luck not going their away again. Well, at least if Friday’s tiebreaker event at the NBA Board of Governors is any indication of foreshadowing, expect the Suns to be trying to trade their pick in the 2019 Draft.
New York, Cleveland and Phoenix all have the same odds for the top four selections, but now there’s an even higher chance of slipping to No. 6 than landing No. 1.
Following the tiebreakers going through, here’s the odds for where the Suns could land in June’s draft order:
No. 1 - 14.0% - unchanged
No. 2 - 13.4% - unchanged
No. 3 - 12.7% - unchanged
No. 4 - 11.9% - unchanged
No. 5 - 14.8% - lower after drawing
No. 6 - 26.0% - higher after drawing
No. 7 - 7.1% - now possibility after drawing
As you can tell, not a good sign for the Suns’ chances to land one of Zion Williamson or Ja Morant with the new lottery reform now impacting it. Really, one simple way to look at is there’s a 27.4% chance Phoenix keeps their pick, but 72.4% odds they end up attempting to ship it away for a win-now veteran at point guard or power forward.
Prior to last year’s lottery where Phoenix was rewarded their first No. 1 pick in franchise history, they had never moved up in the standings only down due to the ping pong balls not falling in the right direction. History could be repeating itself, unless there top three odds alongside the Knicks and Cavaliers end up paying dividends.
With a month away until the 2019 NBA Draft Lottery, we now sit back and wait to see how the picks fall where they may. Whatever pick slot lands for Phoenix will ultimately decide what avenue this important offseason ends up going down.