NBA Draft Lottery 2015: Date, Time, Channel and Each Team's Odds for Top Pick

The NBA's playoff teams have been garnering all of the headlines since the conclusion of the regular season, but that will change on Tuesday evening, as the 14 teams involved in the draft lottery will take center stage.

As we know, the team with the best chances of earning the No. 1 overall selection doesn't always come away with the top pick. This makes the lottery process a nail-biting event for fans hoping their favorite squad will acquire a pick high enough to select one of the draft's most coveted prospects. After all, selecting the right player could turn the fortunes of a struggling team almost instantaneously.

This is certainly must-see TV, so here's a look at the lottery's essential viewing information.

2015 NBA Draft Lottery Viewing Info

Date: Tuesday, May 19

Location: Hilton Midtown in New York City

Time: 8:30 p.m. ET

Channel: ESPN

Live Stream: WatchESPN

So, how does the lottery process work? Well, here's a quick refresher.

There are a total of 14 teams participating in the event. Each team has a certain number of combinations to acquire the No. 1 pick (more on that later). Fourteen balls are dropped into the lottery machine, and after some shuffling, four are picked in consecutive order. The numbers on those four balls become the combination for the top pick. The team that holds that combination acquires it.

That process is repeated for the second pick and then again for the third pick. Once the top three selections have been distributed, the remaining 11 teams are awarded picks four through 14 based on the inverse order of their regular-season records.

So, back to the chances for each team to land the top pick. Here's a look at the number of chances each franchise will get (out of 1,000) and the corresponding percentages of acquiring a top-three pick:

Team	Record	Chances	1st Pick	2nd Pick	3rd Pick
Minnesota	16-66	250	25.00%	21.51%	17.77%
New York	17-65	199	19.90%	18.81%	17.12%
Philadelphia	18-64	156	15.60%	15.74%	15.59%
L.A. Lakers	21-61	119	11.90%	12.60%	13.30%
Orlando	25-57	88	8.80%	9.66%	10.68%
Sacramento	29-53	63	6.30%	7.10%	8.12%
Denver	30-52	43	4.30%	4.94%	5.79%
Detroit	32-50	28	2.80%	3.26%	3.89%
Charlotte	33-49	17	1.70%	2.00%	2.41%
Miami	37-45	11	1.10%	1.30%	1.58%
Indiana	38-44	8	0.80%	0.95%	1.15%
Utah	38-44	7	0.70%	0.83%	1.01%
Phoenix	39-43	6	0.60%	0.71%	0.87%
Oklahoma City	45-37	5	0.50%	0.59%	0.73%

There are two scenarios to keep a keen eye on when the lottery process plays out.

The Los Angeles Lakers would land the No. 4 pick in the draft if nothing were to change. That's the safe zone for the team, as their pick is top-five protected and would convey to the Philadelphia 76ers if it falls to No. 6 or below. We've seen teams leapfrog others into the top three in the past, so the Lakers are in danger of losing that pick.

The Miami Heat also risk losing their pick to the 76ers. Currently, the Heat hold the No. 10 spot, and that would be just fine, as the pick is top-10 protected. However, if one of the bottom four teams moves up into the top and Miami falls outside the top 10, Philadelphia would acquire the selection.

It's an unlikely scenario, but it happened last year when the Cleveland Cavaliers won the lottery despite a 1.7 percent chance of doing so.

Fortunately, teams in this year's lottery won't have to worry about the excessive luck the Cavaliers have seen—they've landed the top pick in three of the past four lotteries—over previous years. Following the return of LeBron James, Cleveland is still entrenched in the playoffs and is looking to make its way to the NBA Finals.

Now, it's just a matter of sitting back and watching the lottery unfold. After all, the fate of every team involved is left completely up to chance. Will the Minnesota Timberwolves stay at the top and take a look at Kentucky big man Karl-Anthony Towns or perhaps Duke center Jahlil Okafor, or will another team defy the odds and move into the top spot?

Be sure to tune in.