Pelicans Scoop

Pelicans Prepare For 2023 NBA Draft Lottery

New Orleans has a chance to get a high draft pick in this year's upcoming NBA Draft.

Terry Kimble

Pelicans Prepare For 2023 NBA Draft Lottery
Pelicans Prepare For 2023 NBA Draft Lottery /
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The Pelicans hope lightning may strike twice in the upcoming 2023 NBA Draft Lottery. The New Orleans brass will head to Chicago on Tuesday, May 16, to get the draft order for June's 2023 NBA Draft. The team holding the first overall draft pick is expected to select Victor Wembanyama, a highly talented big man from France. The Pelicans' odds of capturing the No. 1 pick are 0.5%.

2023 NBA Draft Lottery Odds

  1. Detroit Pistons (14%)
  2. Houston Rockets (14%)
  3. San Antonio Spurs (14%)
  4. Charlotte Hornets (12.5%)
  5. Portland Trail Blazers (10.5%)
  6. Orlando Magic (9.0%)
  7. Indiana Pacers (6.8%)
  8. Washington Wizards (6.7%)
  9. Utah Jazz (4.5%)
  10. Dallas Mavericks (3.0% – pick could convey to New York)
  11. Chicago Bulls (1.8% – pick could convey to Orlando)
  12. Oklahoma City Thunder (1.7%)
  13. Toronto Raptors (1.0%)
  14. New Orleans Pelicans (0.5%)
Zion Williamson
Jun 20, 2019; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Zion Williamson (Duke) greets NBA commissioner Adam Silver after being selected as the number one overall pick to the New Orleans Pelicans in the first round of the 2019 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

History shows the highest draft percentage odds are not a lock to secure the top pick. New Orleans Pelicans fans know this all too well. In 2019, the New York Knicks held the highest odds of getting the top pick (14%). Yet the Pelicans, with a 6% chance going into the lottery, snagged the top pick and drafted Zion Williamson. How does all of this work?

Here's the NBA's official explanation.

The actual lottery procedure will take place in a separate room just before ESPN’s national broadcast. Select media, NBA officials and representatives of the participating teams and the accounting firm Ernst & Young will be in attendance for the drawings.

Fourteen ping-pong balls numbered 1 through 14 will be placed in a lottery machine. There are 1,001 possible combinations when four balls are drawn out of 14, without regard to their order of selection. Before the lottery, 1,000 of those 1,001 combinations will be assigned to the 14 participating lottery teams. The lottery machine is manufactured by the Smart Play Company, a leading manufacturer of state lottery machines throughout the United States. Smart Play also weighs, measures and certifies the ping-pong balls before the drawing.

The drawing process occurs in the following manner: All 14 balls are placed in the lottery machine and they are mixed for 20 seconds, and then the first ball is removed. The remaining balls are mixed in the lottery machine for another 10 seconds, and then the second ball is drawn. There is a 10-second mix, and then the third ball is drawn. There is a 10-second mix, and then the fourth ball is drawn. The team that has been assigned that combination will receive the No. 1 pick. The same process is repeated with the same ping-pong balls and lottery machine for the second through fourth picks.

If the same team comes up more than once, the result is discarded and another four-ball combination is selected. Also, if the one unassigned combination is drawn, the result is discarded and the balls are drawn again. The length of time the balls are mixed is monitored by a timekeeper who faces away from the machine and signals the machine operator after the appropriate amount of time has elapsed.

If New Orleans were to secure the No. 1 draft pick, they would make history. Since the inception of the ping-pong process of the NBA Draft in 1985, the team with the lowest odds of capturing the top draft pick was the Orlando Magic in 1993, with 1.52% odds. Records are made to be broken, so never say never for that record to go down one day.

Fortunately for the New Orleans Pelicans, this is a deep draft with a lot of talent that can help the team. Injuries have derailed the promise of success in the last couple of seasons. New Orleans has made the NBA Play-In Tournament the previous two seasons, with one playoff appearance to show for it. It's worth noting that two teams participating in the Play-In tournament this year have made it to the Conference Finals. Their success gives hope that the Pelicans may also have a chance at competing soon.

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Terry Kimble
TERRY KIMBLE

Pelicans Scoop Writer

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