The NBA Draft Lottery was held last night, and there was more intrigue than usual surrounding the event thanks to the presence of two of the league's most popular franchises near the bottom of the standings. The Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks both finished among the four worst teams, giving them great odds at landing the top pick.
Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler Dislike Each Other?
There was extra drama for the Lakers because they would have lost their pick if it had fallen outstide of the top five. Minnesota ended up winning the lottery and will pick first, but the shock came when the Lakers landed the number two spot, which led to the following reaction from head coach Byron Scott:
The Lakers had an 83 percent chance of keeping their pick, and they had good odds of draft higher than fourth also, so it was no real surprise. Still, the league has faced allegations of rigging the lottery in the past (most notably in 1985), so Scott's wink will undoubtedly rile up many conspiracy theorists.
Paul Pierce Made LeBron Into Game's Best Player?
Popular, big-money franchises moving up in the lottery will always raise eyebrows because it is undeniably good for the league's business model to have teams in huge markets be good.
Still, before anyone gets too carried away with crying that the Lakers were the beneficiaries of a rigged ping pong ball drawing, note that the Timberwolves won the lottery, and the Knicks were bumped down to fourth, which was a devastating blow to fans that had used the promise of Karl-Anthony Towns or Jahlil Okafor to numb the pain of a wretched season.
© 2023 Sportsworldnews.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
