2023-05-16 09:53:02
On the night of May 16 to 17, around 2 a.m. in France, Victor Wembanyama will know where he will spend the next three or four years of his life, and maybe more. A month before the draft, the French will find out which team will have the chance to welcome him. Operation of US sport requires, he has no say. The NBA lottery and therefore a part of chance will fix its future destination. We explain to you.
Who has the right to play it?
Fourteen franchises, all of which did not make the NBA playoffs this season, are entered into the lottery. This determines with a large degree of chance who will have the first choices of the draft which will take place on June 22.
This draft allows the 30 NBA teams to recruit the best hopes on the planet through a somewhat complex system: “The NBA draft was created to rebalance forces, explains Rémi Reverchon, NBA specialist at BeIN Sports. The worst team in the League recruits the best young hope of the year. The second worst team recruits the second best player, and so on. »
Only, to avoid cheating and teams losing on purpose to recover the best (the “tanking”), the NBA created this lottery which gives a percentage of chance to each franchise according to their ranking to benefit from the best choices.
The three NBA dunces of the 2002-2023 season (Detroit, San Antonio and Houston) thus leave with a 14% chance of choosing first. Charlotte at 12.5%, Portland 10.5 and so on. New Orleans only has a 0.5% chance of having the Frenchman but it is still possible. In 1993, Orlando had the number 1 choice (Chris Webber) with only a 1.52% chance.
How it works ?
The lottery is aptly named: the machine that delivers the verdict is identical to that of our good old lotto. It is placed in Chicago, in an anonymous room and in front of only five people who monitor its proper functioning, off cameras, but in front of the equivalent of a bailiff.
Fourteen ping-pong balls — this is the term used by the NBA — numbered from 1 to 14 are placed in this device. After an initial 20 second mashing, four balls come out at 10 second intervals from the machine. For example, balls 2, 9, 10 and 14. There are 1,001 possible combinations in this little game.
Beforehand, each franchise is randomly assigned a certain number of these 4-digit combinations. The three worst-ranked teams—Houston, San Antonio and Detroit—have 140 (14%), Charlotte 125 (12.5%), Portland 105 (10.5%) and so on down to the five of New Orleans.
The team with the winning four-ball combo in front of them wins the first pick. This will be slipped into an envelope and unveiled on TV, in the ESPN studio next door. Mark Tatum, the NBA’s assistant commissioner, will then announce the result. In France, the lottery is broadcast live on BeIN Sports with an attentive viewer: Victor Wembanyama himself.
“Wemby”, number 1 really?
Mark Tatum announces at that time which team will have in June the number 1 choice of the draft among all the players who present themselves there. They are sixty on the starting line. Pick number 1 means that the franchise that wins the lottery can choose any of these players, as it sees fit. The others are content with what remains. That’s what being number 1 in the draft is.
On the night of May 16 to 17, no one will say “this team chooses Victor Wembanyama”. His name will not even be spoken. We’ll just know who can choose first. Is there any doubt that the Frenchman will be this number 1 choice? None. Is there another that the lottery-winning franchise doesn’t end up taking on June 22, draft day?
“There is a chance in a few billion, underlines a connoisseur of the NBA. It can happen if this team doesn’t need a big guy like Victor. But in this case, the General Manager who makes this decision will have to present solid arguments or leave town afterwards. Because his fans will not forgive him. »
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