NBA Draft Lottery Odds: Bulls' Loss is Magic's Gain

The Chicago Bulls have one last piece to give to the Orlando Magic after their 2021 blockbuster trade.

Jeremy Brener | Apr 15, 2023

Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

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Orlando Magic

ORLANDO - The Orlando Magic is celebrating the results of Friday night's Play-In tournament after its Sunshine State brethren Miami Heat beat the Chicago Bulls to clinch the eighth and final seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

With the Heat win and Bulls loss, Chicago's pick falls into the lottery, a selection which will be conveyed to the Magic as long as it doesn't land within the top four picks.

The pick came as the final part of the Nikola Vucevic trade made back at the 2021 NBA Trade Deadline.

A Bulls win would have guaranteed that the Magic would receive Chicago's pick this year, but it would not have landed in the lottery. But Orlando's odds of grabbing Chicago's pick this year is very high. The pick has a 91.9 percent chance of heading to Orlando.

A coin flip in the coming days will determine whether Chicago and the Oklahoma City Thunder will have the No. 11 or No. 12 pick in the draft, since both teams finished with identical 40-42 records.

This pick, along with the Magic's own selection slated to be in the top six, gives Orlando a lot of cards to play with to improve the team even more this summer.

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Published Apr 15, 2023

JEREMY BRENER

Jeremy Brener is an editor, writer and social media manager for several Fan Nation websites. His work has also been featured in 247 Sports and SB Nation as a writer and podcaster. Brener has been with Fan Nation since 2021. Brener grew up in Houston, going to Astros, Rockets and Texans games as a kid. He moved to Orlando in 2016 to go to college and pursue a degree. He hosts "The Dream Take" podcast covering the Rockets, which has produced over 350 episodes since March 2020. Brener graduated in May 2020 from the University of Central Florida with a Bachelor's degree in Broadcast Journalism minoring in Sport Business Management. While at UCF, Brener worked for the school's newspaper NSM.today and "Hitting the Field," a student-run sports talk show and network. He was the executive producer for "Hitting the Field" from 2019-20. During his professional career, Brener has covered a number of major sporting events including the Pro Bowl, March Madness and several NBA and NFL games. As a fan, Brener has been to the 2005 World Series, 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 NCAA National Championship between the Villanova Wildcats and North Carolina Tar Heels. Now, Brener still resides in the Central Florida area and enjoys writing, watching TV, hanging out with friends and going to the gym. Brener can be followed on Twitter @JeremyBrener. For more inquiries, please email jeremybrenerchs@gmail.com.