NBA Lottery 2017: Date, Time, TV Schedule, Live Stream and More
As the playoffs rage on for five NBA teams, the other 25 are already diving into offseason plans. And the first major event of the offseason is the draft.
Analyzing and predicting who will go where will become a lot easier once the 2017 lottery is in the books.
The teams with the best shot at landing the No. 1 pick are the Boston Celtics (25 percent, thanks to a trade with the Brooklyn Nets), Phoenix Suns (19.9 percent) and Los Angeles Lakers (15.6 percent).
The rest of the odds are as follows:
| Boston (via Brooklyn) | 20-62 (BKN) | 64.3% | 25.0% |
| Phoenix | 24-58 | 55.8% | 19.9% |
| LA Lakers | 26-56 | 46.9% | 15.6% |
| Philadelphia | 28-54 | 37.8% | 11.9% |
| Orlando | 29-53 | 29.1% | 8.8% |
| Minnesota | 31-51 | 18.3% | 5.3% |
| New York | 31-51 | 18.3% | 5.3% |
| Sacramento | 32-50 | 9.9% | 2.8% |
| Dallas | 33-49 | 6.1% | 1.7% |
| Sacramento (via New Orleans) | 34-48 (NOP) | 4.0% | 1.1% |
| Charlotte | 36-46 | 2.9% | 0.8% |
| Detroit | 37-45 | 2.5% | 0.7% |
| Denver | 40-42 | 2.2% | 0.6% |
| Miami | 41-41 | 1.8% | 0.5% |
When and Where to Watch
ESPN will cover this year's lottery, with the kickoff show happening at 7:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday. The actual lottery broadcast begins at 8:30 p.m. ET. And if history is any guide, the picks won't actually be revealed until just before the start of Game 2 between the San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors at 9 p.m. ET.
If you're not around a TV, you'll still be able to stream the event on WatchESPN. Bleacher Report will also run a live blog along with the event.
Best Fits for the Top 3
As things stand now, the consensus top three in this year's draft class goes, tentatively ordered, Markelle Fultz, Lonzo Ball and Josh Jackson.
Washington's Fultz is a perfect fit for the Celtics, who already have a ball-dominant point guard in Isaiah Thomas. Both Fultz and Ball have the size to defend opposing guards more effectively than IT, but Fultz seems better suited to playing off the ball.
Thomas and Ball both play with their fingerprints all over every aspect of their team's offenses. Together, those styles may clash. Fultz is great on the ball as well but projects to be a better off-ball option. His shooting ability makes him a great catch-and-shoot target for Thomas and Al Horford.
Ball, meanwhile, makes almost too much sense for the Lakers. Never mind the fact that he played his college ball at UCLA and said it would be a "blessing" to play for his hometown team in an interview with ESPN's First Take, he's a great fit in terms of basketball.
Like Fultz, Ball has the size to defend either guard spot. He can share the floor with D'Angelo Russell, who the Lakers tried off the ball toward the end of the season. And there aren't many players who can school a big point guard on how to use his size better than Lakers president Magic Johnson.
Finally, there's Josh Jackson, a combo forward who does a little bit of everything. He's especially intriguing as a defensive ace, something the Suns desperately need.
They already have plenty of offense from the backcourt and wings in Eric Bledsoe, Devin Booker and T.J. Warren. Adding Jackson's versatility to that young core makes it even more exciting. Small-ball lineups with those four and one of Phoenix's young centers would be a nightmare to try to keep up with.
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