The team with the worst record in the NBA this season, the Phoenix Suns, won the draft lottery tonight, and with it the choice of either Arizona’s Deandre Ayton or Real Madrid’s Luka Dončić. Whoever of those two the Suns don’t pick will likely go to the Sacramento Kings, who defied the odds and took the second spot after they were projected for seventh. The Grizzlies and Mavericks both got a bit unlucky, dropping two spots after expecting second and third, respectively. Additionally, the Magic and the Hornets both pick in the exact same spot as they did last year, which is pretty dang depressing for those franchises.
Here’s the full order:
1. Phoenix Suns
2. Sacramento Kings
3. Atlanta Hawks
4. Memphis Grizzlies
5. Dallas Mavericks
6. Orlando Magic
7. Chicago Bulls
8. Cleveland Cavaliers
9. New York Knicks
10. Philadelphia 76ers
11. Charlotte Hornets
12. Los Angeles Clippers
13. Los Angeles Clippers
14. Denver Nuggets
The Cavs get to make their first first-round pick since 2015, because they got Brooklyn’s via Boston in the Kyrie Irving trade. And the Sixers’ lottery spot comes all the way back from the Michael Carter-Williams trade—when they got the Lakers’ pick via the Phoenix Suns—which looks pretty good in retrospect.
The Pistons, meanwhile, don’t get a first-round pick because theirs goes to the Clippers due to the Blake Griffin trade. They should have just tanked.