clock menu more-arrow no yes

Filed under:

Sacramento Kings are slotted 8th in the NBA Draft Lottery

New, comments
Elsa/Getty Images

The NBA today televised the tie breakers for draft positioning on NBA TV.  The Kings finished the season at 33-49, tied with the Denver Nuggets and Milwaukee Bucks.  All three teams will split their odds, but tiebreakers are used to determine the order from 8 to 10.  For the Kings, dropping to 10th would have been the worst possibility as in the unlikely scenario a team slotted 11-14 jumped ahead of them, they would end up losing their pick to the Chicago Bulls.

Fortunately the Kings had the best possible outcome, winning the first tiebreaker and claiming the 8th spot.  Denver will be slotted 9th, followed by Milwaukee.  This outcome basically ensures that the Kings will not lose their pick, as three teams with very low percentages would have to jump into the top 3.

The Kings will have a 1.9% chance at landing the top pick and a 6.8% chance at a top 3 pick.  Of course, the Kings can't possibly have the #1 pick this year thanks to the pick swap deal they have in place with Philadelphia.  The Kings can actually end up jumping to the 4th overall pick due to this swap deal, but it would mean they had given up a higher pick to do so.

The NBA Draft Lottery will be held on May 17th.