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NBA Draft Lottery 2022: Projected Order and Odds for Every Team Involved
April 11, 2022
The 2021-22 NBA regular season is over, and the championship dreams are still alive for the 20 teams that qualified for the playoffs or play-in tournament.
While those who did not finish in the top 10 of their respective conferences have plenty of work to do, there is one silver lining to not making the playoffs. They now have a better chance to land the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft lottery.
Here is a look at the projected order of the lottery picks, as well as the odds of landing the top overall pick for each team.
The order and odds are per Tankathon, as of Sunday.
1. Houston Rockets, 14.0%
2. Orlando Magic, 14.0%
3. Detroit Pistons, 14.0%
4. Oklahoma City Thunder, 12.5%
5. Indiana Pacers, 10.5%
6. Portland Trail Blazers, 9.0%
7. Sacramento Kings, 7.5%
8. New Orleans Pelicans (via Los Angeles Lakers), 6.0%
9. San Antonio Spurs, 4.5%*
10. Washington Wizards, 3.0%
11. Portland Trail Blazers (via New Orleans Pelicans), 2.0%*
12. New York Knicks, 1.5%
T13. Atlanta Hawks, 0.8%*
T13. Charlotte Hornets, 0.7%*
*Pending the results of the play-in tournament.
Many years, such as in 2019 with Zion Williamson, there is very little doubt who the No. 1 pick will be for the team fortunate enough to win the lottery.
That is not the case in 2022.
Auburn's Jabari Smith, Duke's Paolo Banchero and Gonzaga's Chet Holmgren all have a chance to be the first pick in June's draft. Depending on your mock draft of choice and the given date, any of their names may be on the top and will likely cycle through in the days and weeks leading up to the draft.
Smith's versatility immediately stands out as a big man who can shoot from the outside and defend multiple positions. Throw in his ability to sky over defenders when getting to the rim, and it's no surprise he is a projected top-three pick.
Banchero can also score on the blocks or the outside while flashing speed to get by bigs and size and physicality to score over smaller defenders.
Holmgren is an elite shot-blocker who can anchor a team's interior defense while also posing as a matchup problem of his own. He can handle the ball, shoot from deep, work in pick-and-rolls and score on the interior.
The nice thing about having three potential No. 1 picks for lottery teams is that much talent means getting the lucky pingpong-ball bounce is not as critical as it has been in years past.
It also pushes other potential All-Stars further down the draft, such as Purdue's Jaden Ivey, Iowa's Keegan Murray and Duke's AJ Griffin, which means additional talent for the teams who are not as fortunate during the draft lottery.