NBA Draft Lottery 2012: Golden State Warriors Might Lose Their Pick

So this is what it all comes down to.

At 8 p.m. ET tonight, 14 NBA teams will nervously huddle around a television set to watch the 2012 NBA Draft Lottery, hoping the ping-pong balls roll in their favor and get them a high draft pick.

One of those teams will be even more nervous than the rest, and as luck would have it, it is your Golden State Warriors.

Thanks to the genius mind of Chris Mullin, the Warriors will need at least the seventh pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, or the pick will be the property of the Utah Jazz. 

Yep, that's right.

Mullin traded away a conditional first-round pick to the New Jersey Nets in exchange for Marcus Williams, who played just nine games and contributed next to nothing before being released a few months later. (Maybe Warriors' fans should have booed Mullin instead of Joe Lacob.)

Then, the Nets traded the pick to the Utah Jazz in the Deron Williams deal, which is where we stand today.

The Warriors finished the season tied for the seventh-worst record in the NBA. For once, the dice rolled in their favor, and they won the tiebreaker against the Toronto Raptors to grab the seventh slot in the draft lottery. 

So what are the odds? 

First of all, the Warriors have a 72 percent chance to keep their pick. In other words, if a team with a better record (Toronto, Detroit, Minnesota, Portland, Milwaukee, Phoenix or Houston) leapfrogs them in the lottery and gets one of the top three picks, the Warriors will slide down below the seventh slot and lose their pick.

They obviously didn't like their chances and tried to negotiate a deal with the Jazz so they could have their pick outright. The trade talks stalled, so the Warriors will be left testing their luck tonight. (Based on past history, that's not a good thing.)

If the Warriors can keep their pick, they will have a 12.66 percent chance of landing one of the top three picks and a 3.6 percent chance at the No. 1 pick Anthony Davis.

But remember, it's all about keeping their draft pick tonight. If they end up falling out of the top seven, all that so-called "tanking" will have gone to waste.

So, be sure to tune in (8 p.m. ET on ESPN) tonight for the 2012 NBA Draft Lottery.