The NBA 2022–23 season has reached the playoffs, and with it, the NBA Draft Lottery and NBA Draft preparations have begun. The NBA Draft’s first 14 picks will be chosen on May 16, 2023, using a new Draft Lottery system that went into effect in 2019 after being modified in 2017.
Which teams will be participating in the 2023 NBA Draft Lottery?
The lottery draft procedure will include 14 of the 32 teams that missed the NBA Playoffs in 2023, including the Playin tournament. Following are the clubs who will participate in the NBA Draft Lottery in 2023, along with their regular-season win-loss record:
| Team | Regulars-season win-loss record |
| Detroit Pistons | 17-65 |
| Houston Rockets | 22-60 |
| San Antonio Spurs | 22-60 |
| Charlotte Hornets | 27-55 |
| Portland Trail Blazers | 33-49 |
| Orlando Magic | 34-48 |
| Indiana Pacers | 35-47 |
| Washington Wizards | 35-47 |
| Utah Jazz | 37-45 |
| Dallas Mavericks | 38-44 |
| Chicago Bulls | 40-42 |
| Oklahoma City Thunder | 40-42 |
| Toronto Raptors | 41-41 |
| New Orleans Pelicans | 42-40 |
Additionally, three of the teams with the lowest regular-season win-loss records have a 14% chance of winning the lottery draft after 2019. Prior to 2019, the team with the lowest regular-season win-loss record had a 25% chance of winning the lottery draft, followed by the next two worst teams with odds of 19.9% and 15.6%, respectively
NBA Draft Lottery- Format
The rules also provide that a drawing will be held using a lottery mechanism to choose the top four choices from the 14 clubs that missed the playoffs and had the worst regular-season win-loss record. After the top four picks have been determined through drawing, the remaining teams from the bottom 14 teams will choose the draft picks from number five through fourteen in inverse order of their regular-season win-loss record.
A lottery machine will be employed to decide the top four NBA Draft picks among the 14 non-playoff clubs. The lottery machine will be filled with fourteen ping-pong balls labeled 1 through 14. One ball would be drawn after mixing all the balls for 20 seconds. A second ball would then be drawn after the remaining balls were mingled for another 10 seconds. The third and fourth balls would also follow the same process.
The combination, for instance, 1, 6, 9, 14, (on balls 1, 2, 3, and 4 correspondingly) would be matched against the team that has been given that same combination once all four balls have been drawn. The first player selected in the NBA Draft will belong to whichever of the fourteen participating clubs gets its first combination right.
The second through fourth picks in the NBA Draft will also go through the same procedure.
When picking the balls, the lottery machine has 1001 possible combinations to come up with. Prior to the process of drawing the balls from the machine beginning, 1000 of these 1001 combinations are assigned to the 14 competing teams.
After drawing all four balls, if a combination is drawn again, the result is discarded, and the procedure is started over again. If the lottery machine throws an unassigned combination, the same rule still holds true.
The NBA Lottery Draft machine will be made by Smart Play, one of the top makers of state lottery machines around the United States. Prior to the drawing, Smart Play will weigh, measure, and certify the ping-pong balls that will be used in the procedure.
When and where will the NBA Draw 2023 take place?
The lottery drawing process will occur before the official broadcast on May 16, 2023, the same day as the NBA Lottery Draft.
The real NBA Draft is held around a month after the final 14 teams are given their picks to select the players. The NBA Draft will take place on June 22 this year.
The remaining picks, namely those between 15 and 30, will be selected by the teams that advanced to the playoffs in reverse order of their regular-season record after the NBA Draft pick numbers for the bottom 14 teams have been assigned. However, NBA teams are given picks in the second round according to their regular-season win-loss record in reverse order. The most successful team will pick last, according to this rule.
