Editing NBA draft (section)

== Draft lottery ==
{{main|NBA draft lottery}}
The NBA draft lottery is an annual event held by the NBA, where the teams who did not make the playoffs in the past year participate in a state-lottery style process in order to determine the order that the first several teams pick players in the draft. The lottery covered the first three picks until 2018, after which it was increased to the first four.<ref name=":02">{{cite web|url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=J0E215759870615&site=ehost-live&scope=site|title=Draft lottery trickier than it might appear|last=Zillgitt|first=Jeff|date=July 22, 2017}}</ref> The team with the worst record receives the best odds of receiving the first pick. The NBA introduced the lottery process in 1985. The league was attempting to counter accusations that certain teams were purposefully losing in order to gain a chance to participate in the annual coin flip, where the worst team in each division (each conference starting in 1971) flipped a coin to see who will receive the first pick in that year's upcoming draft.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nba.com/features/inside_lottery_050524.html|title=Let the Ping-Pong Balls Fall|last=Dengate|first=Jeff|website=NBA.com|access-date=August 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100321160835/http://www.nba.com/features/inside_lottery_050524.html|archive-date=March 21, 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The draft lottery is a crucial component of the NBA Draft, primarily determining the order of the top 14 picks, known as the lottery picks. These picks are assigned to the 14 teams that did not make the playoffs in the previous season. <ref>{{Cite web |title=Understanding the NBA Draft: A Comprehensive Guide |url=https://www.refrsports.com/blog/understanding-the-nba-draft-a-comprehensive-guide |access-date=2025-04-30 |website=refrsports.com |language=en}}</ref>In the lottery system, the league uses "a lottery-style ping-pong ball machine with 14 balls numbered 1–14, and 1,000 four-digit combinations are assigned to the 14 lottery teams."<ref name=":02" /> Until 2018, the worst team received 250 combinations, the second worst getting 199, the third worst team 156, and so on.<ref name=":02" /> The first three draft picks were determined. Starting in 2019, the three worst teams receive 140 combinations each, the fourth worst 125, and so on. Those three teams will have an equal chance of winning the top overall pick. After the first four picks are determined, the rest of the teams are ordered in reverse order based on their record in the previous season, like in the previous system.

The lottery is generally held in the third or fourth week of May. The NBA goes to great lengths in order to keep the selection process both fair and not tampered with in any way. "The actual Lottery procedure will take place in a separate room just prior to the national broadcast on [[ESPN]]. Select media members, NBA officials and representatives of the participating teams and the accounting firm of [[Ernst & Young]] will be in attendance for the drawing."<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.nba.com/news/draft/nba-draft-lottery-what-will-happen-2016/|title=2016 NBA Draft Lottery: How the drawing process works & Lottery odds|work=NBA.com|access-date=August 2, 2017|language=en-US}}</ref> Attendees are not allowed cell phone or any other electronic access until the number one pick is revealed on the television broadcast.<ref name=":02" />