Everything You Need to Know About the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery
While the NBA playoffs continue apace, the teams that didn't make the postseason field will briefly interrupt the flow and get their moment in the spotlight on Monday night when the NBA draft lottery takes center stage.
For those teams, this is the glimmer of hope in an otherwise lost season. This is the moment when they'll learn if the odds fall in their favor, giving them the opportunity to select first in the NBA draft. For the teams that aren't fortunate enough to jump to the top spot, can they at least get into the top four?
Some teams have even more on the line, as they traded their first-round pick with contingencies attached. Where they end up in the lottery could decide whether they keep their pick or have to trade it away.
Here, we'll lay out how to watch the drama unfold, share the intricacies of the draft lottery, explain the odds every team has, note which picks could change hands based on the results and detail a few players whom teams may be coveting with the top few picks.
How to Watch the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery
1 of 5
Date: Monday, May 12
Time: 7 p.m. ET
Network: ESPN (and the ESPN app)
Expect the drama to unfold somewhat slowly, but don't be too late to the party. ESPN's broadcast of Game 4 between the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. ET, so there's only a half-hour for league to unveil its lottery results.
As in years past, the picks will be revealed in order beginning with No. 14 and working their way down to the top four. After a brief commercial break, we'll find out which team was lucky enough to win the No. 1 overall pick.
How the NBA Draft Lottery Works
2 of 5
Once the play-in round is over and the NBA's playoff bracket is set, the 14 non-playoff teams bound for the draft lottery are locked in. Each team is then assigned odds based on their record (more on that later). The top three teams share 14 percent odds of winning the top overall pick, while the 14th team has only a 0.7 percent chance to jump all the way to No. 1.
On the day of the lottery itself, one representative from each team, select media, NBA officials and representatives from the accounting firm Ernst & Young will meet in a league's version of a conclave before the draft lottery broadcast. There, their phones will be taken and they will be sequestered from the outside world while the lottery is being decided and until it is announced.
The mechanism for deciding the top four picks is a lottery machine filled with 14 ping-pong balls numbered 1-14. The machine will slowly select four numbers, one at a time. There are 1,001 possible combinations, and 1,000 of them are distributed among the lottery teams in ratios equivalent to their odds. For instance, a team with 14 percent odds of winning the first pick will receive 140 combinations.
The winner of the first drawing will receive the first pick, the winner of the second drawing will receive the second pick and so on, until the first four picks have been decided. If a team's number is drawn again after it has already been drawn once, the machine will be reset and new numbers will be drawn.
After the top four picks are locked in, picks 5-14 will be assigned in order of record, The remaining team with the worst record gets the fifth pick and so on.
Each Team's Odds for Winning the Top Pick, Staying in the Top 4
3 of 5
Utah Jazz: 14% at chance at No. 1 pick; 52.1% to land in top four
Washington Wizards: 14% at chance at No. 1 pick; 52.1% to land in top four
Charlotte Hornets: 14% chance at No. 1 pick; 52.1% to land in top four
New Orleans Pelicans: 12.5% chance at No. 1 pick; 48.1% to land in top four
Philadelphia 76ers: 10.5% chance at No. 1 pick; 42.1% to land in top four
Brooklyn Nets: 9.0% chance at No. 1 pick; 37.2% to land in top four
Toronto Raptors: 7.5% chance at No. 1 pick; 31.9% to land in top four
San Antonio Spurs: 6.0% chance at No. 1 pick; 26.3% to land in top four
Houston Rockets (via Phoenix): 3.8% chance at No. 1 pick; 17.3% to land in top four
Portland Trail Blazers: 3.7% chance at No. 1 pick; 16.9% to land in top four
Dallas Mavericks: 1.8% chance at No. 1 pick; 8.5% to land in top four
Chicago Bulls: 1.7% chance at No. 1 pick; 8.0% to land in top four
Atlanta Hawks (via Sacramento): 0.8% chance at No. 1 pick; 3.8% to land in top four
San Antonio Spurs (via Atlanta): 0.7% chance at No. 1 pick; 3.4% to land in top four
Which 1st-Rounders Have Already Been Traded?
4 of 5
Not only did the Phoenix Suns finish woefully below expectations at 36-46, but they also don't own their first-round pick. They traded that selection to the Brooklyn Nets in 2023 in the deal that brought them Kevin Durant.
The Houston Rockets now own the rights to that pick, which has a 3.8 percent chance to jump from No. 9 to No. 1.
Meanwhile, the San Antonio Spurs will have two picks in the lottery—their own (eighth-best odds) and that of the Atlanta Hawks (14th-best odds). Atlanta sent its unprotected 2025 first-rounder to San Antonio in its trade for Dejounte Murray.
However, Atlanta has a good chance to get back into the lottery. The Hawks will get the Sacramento Kings' pick if it falls outside of the top 12 thanks to the trade that sent Kevin Huerter to Sacramento in 2022.
The Kings have only a 3.8 percent chance to move up, meaning the Hawks are in good position to snag the No. 13 overall pick. If the Kings defy the odds and move up, they will instead owe a top-10-protected pick to the Hawks next year.
The pick most likely to change hands based on Monday's results currently belongs to the Philadelphia 76ers. The Sixers own the fifth-best chance of getting the No. 1 overall pick and have a 64 percent chance of staying in the top six. But if that pick drops to No. 7 or below, it will convey to the Oklahoma City Thunder thanks to the Al Horford-Danny Green swap between the two teams in 2020.
Who Are the Top Prospects Available in This Year's Draft?
5 of 5
Every team in the NBA draft lottery is dreaming of winning the top pick or at least winding up somewhere in the top four. Getting slotted in the draft order is just the first part of the process, though. Once each team knows its draft slot, it needs to find a player who can help them get back into contention as soon as possible.
The crown jewel of this year's draft is former Duke standout and consensus National Player of the Year Cooper Flagg. During his year with the Blue Devils, Flagg more than proved himself as the kind of do-everything player that any NBA team would be happy to build around.
While the teams that miss out on Flagg will be bummed, plenty of top-tier talents will be available toward the top of the 2025 draft. Former Rutgers teammates Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey will bring their own brands of high-level scoring to the NBA, while Baylor's VJ Edgecombe has elite athletic ability that any team would be happy to add on the wing.
That's just the tip of the iceberg. But for now, those are the top names to watch while we wait to for the lottery to unfold.
