2022 NBA Draft Lottery: What You Need To Know
May 17, 2022, 10:10 AM | Updated: 10:10 am
(Photo by Steven Freeman/NBAE via Getty Images)
(Photo by Steven Freeman/NBAE via Getty Images)
Here we are again.
Shortly after 5:00 pm PST on Tuesday, Sacramento Kings fans will hold their breath and cross their fingers as NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum will begin to pull team logos out of numbered envelopes.
Sacramento (30-52) holds the seventh-best odds of walking away with the number-one pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
How good are those odds, you ask?
Let’s get into everything that you need to know for tonight’s Draft Lottery:
2022 NBA Draft Lottery
- When: Tuesday, May 17th at 5:00 pm PST
- Listen: Sports 1140 KHTK
- Watch: ESPN
Draft lottery order & No. 1 pick odds
1. Houston Rockets, 14%
2. Orlando Magic, 14%
3. Detroit Pistons, 14%
4. Oklahoma City Thunder, 12.5%
5. Indiana Pacers, 10.5%
6. Portland Trail Blazers, 9%
7. Sacramento Kings, 7.5%
8. New Orleans Pelicans (from Lakers), 6%
9. San Antonio Spurs, 4.5%
10. Washington Wizards, 3%
11. New York Knicks, 2%
12. Oklahoma City Thunder (from Clippers), 1.5%
13. Charlotte Hornets, 1%
14. Cleveland Cavaliers, 0.5%
Who is representing the Sacramento Kings at the Lottery?
Domantas Sabonis will hope to bring his new team some luck at tonight’s festivities in Chicago.
Sacramento Kings’ Chances of Moving Up–or Moving Down
Like Han Solo said in Star Wars, “Never tell me the odds.”
Actually, in this case, I think we should probably have an idea of what the odds are.
To put it bluntly, the Sacramento Kings are once again at the mercy of those darned ping pong balls. They have a better chance of falling (34.1% chance of falling to the eighth spot) than they do at remaining in their own slot at seventh (19.7% chance of staying put).
It’s not all bleak, though. The Kings have a 32% chance of landing in the top-four, a 19.7% chance of remaining at seventh, and a 34.1% chance of falling to eighth. So, it’s looking like Sacramento is more likely to move from seventh–it’s just not certain which direction they will be moving.
Here’s a full lineup of Sacramento’s odds for each draft position:
- 1st pick: 7.5%
- 2nd pick: 7.8%
- 3rd pick: 8.1%
- 4th pick: 8.5%
- 7th pick: 19.7%
- 8th pick: 34.1%
- 9th pick: 12.9%
- 10th pick: 1.3%
- 11th pick: >0.0%
Luckily for the Kings, recent history has suggested that the seventh spot in the lottery is the place to be.
In 2018, the last time that the Kings held the seventh spot in the lottery, they jumped to the second spot.
In 2019, the New Orleans Pelicans jumped from seventh to the number one pick.
In 2020, the Chicago Bulls jumped from seventh to fourth.
And lastly, the Toronto Raptors jumped from seventh to fourth just last summer.
It all comes down to the way that those ping pong balls fly this afternoon. Are you feeling lucky, Kings fans?
We’ll see if the basketball gods give this franchise a do-over from the last time the balls went our way.
