NBA draft lottery at 40: The AP looks at how each franchise has fared during its history
FILE - Orlando Magic President and General manager Pat Williams grins while holding up a jersey bearing the name O'Neal and the number 1, at the NBA draft lottery in Secaucus, N.J. May 17, 1992. (AP photo/Bill Kostroun, File)
FILE - Cleveland Cavaliers General Manager Jim Paxson holds up the No. 23 jersey with LeBron James' name on the back during an NBA basketball news conference at Gund Arena in Cleveland Friday, May 23, 2003.. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan, File)
FILE - In this June 18, 1985, file photo, Patrick Ewing accepts his New York Knicks jersey from Dave DeBusschere, right, general manager of the Knicks, as NBA commissioner David Stern look on, at the NBA Draft in New York. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler, File)
FILE - Duke's Cooper Flagg (2) looks back after dunking the ball as Houston's Terrance Arceneaux (23), Mylik Wilson (8) and Milos Uzan (7) watch during the first half in the national semifinals at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, April 5, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
FILE - People walk by a sign during the NBA basketball draft lottery in Chicago, Tuesday, May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)
FILE - People walk by a sign during the NBA basketball draft lottery in Chicago, Tuesday, May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)
FILE - San Antonio Spurs Chairman of the Board Peter Holt reacts Sunday, May 18, 1997, in Secaucus, N.J., as the Spurs were selected to receive the first pick in the upcoming NBA draft. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun, File)
FILE - Orlando Magic President and General manager Pat Williams grins while holding up a jersey bearing the name O'Neal and the number 1, at the NBA draft lottery in Secaucus, N.J. May 17, 1992. (AP photo/Bill Kostroun, File)
FILE - Cleveland Cavaliers General Manager Jim Paxson holds up the No. 23 jersey with LeBron James' name on the back during an NBA basketball news conference at Gund Arena in Cleveland Friday, May 23, 2003.. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan, File)
FILE - In this June 18, 1985, file photo, Patrick Ewing accepts his New York Knicks jersey from Dave DeBusschere, right, general manager of the Knicks, as NBA commissioner David Stern look on, at the NBA Draft in New York. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler, File)
FILE - Duke's Cooper Flagg (2) looks back after dunking the ball as Houston's Terrance Arceneaux (23), Mylik Wilson (8) and Milos Uzan (7) watch during the first half in the national semifinals at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, April 5, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
FILE - People walk by a sign during the NBA basketball draft lottery in Chicago, Tuesday, May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)
The 40th anniversary of the NBA's draft lottery is this year and Utah, Washington and Charlotte have the best chances of winning Monday night — and earning the right to possibly draft Duke star Cooper Flagg.
But those teams might also be set up for disappointment. In 1985, Golden State finished tied for the league's worst record, but New York walked away with the top pick and drafted Patrick Ewing.
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The Associated Press reviewed how each franchise has fared in the lottery and listed them alphabetically. The review includes when teams received the top pick, other high picks that teams landed and times the lottery knocked a team out of the top three.
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Atlanta Hawks
Lottery Wins: 2024 (Zaccharie Risacher)
Other Top-3 Picks: No. 2 in 2005; No. 3 in 2001, 2007 and 2018
Dropped Out Of Top 3: None
Details: The Hawks finally exited the never-won-the-lottery club last year, making good on a 3% chance to land the first pick. And don't overlook the significance of that No. 3 pick in 2007. Atlanta moved up a spot — which prevented the pick from going to Phoenix — and landed Al Horford, who played nearly a decade for the team.
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Boston Celtics
Lottery Wins: 2017 (traded pick)
Other Top-3 Picks: No. 2 in 1986; No. 3 in 1997 and 2016
Dropped Out Of Top 3: 2007
Details: The Celtics had two lottery picks in 1997, meaning they had more than a 1 in 3 chance of landing Tim Duncan. That didn't happen, but 20 years later they finally got the No. 1 pick, traded down and took Jayson Tatum.
Brooklyn/New Jersey Nets
Lottery Wins: 1990 (Derrick Coleman) and 2000 (Kenyon Martin)
Other Top-3 Picks: No. 2 in 1991; No. 3 in 1987 and 2010
Dropped Out Of Top 3: 1988
Details: The Nets had just a 4% chance at the No. 1 pick when they won it in 2000, and they would have another top pick to their credit if they hadn't dealt their selection away before the 2017 lottery. Brooklyn has a 9% chance of receiving the No. 1 pick this year.
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Charlotte Hornets/Bobcats
Lottery Wins: 1991 (Larry Johnson)
Other Top-3 Picks: No. 2 in 1992, 2012 and 2023; No. 3 in 1999, 2006 and 2020
Dropped Out Of Top 3: 1989, 2005, 2013 and 2024
Details: Charlotte has had so many lottery appearances it is not surprising the franchise has experienced some good and bad. Jumping six spots to get Alonzo Mourning in 1992 might've been even more important than landing Johnson at No. 1 the year before. The Hornets also moved up a whopping 10 spots to No. 3 in 1999 and took Baron Davis. Charlotte has a 14% chance of landing the No. 1 pick this year.
Chicago Bulls
Lottery Wins: 1999 (Elton Brand) and 2008 (Derrick Rose)
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Other Top-3 Picks: No. 2 in 2002 and 2006; No. 3 in 2004
Dropped Out Of Top 3: 2000 and 2001
Details: The Bulls landed the No. 1 pick just a season after losing Michael Jordan. They've struggled to build a contender since then, but they've had their chances. Chicago has a 1.7% chance of receiving the No. 1 pick this year — just as it did when it won the 2008 lottery.
Cleveland Cavaliers
Lottery Wins: 2003 (LeBron James), 2011 (Kyrie Irving), 2013 (Anthony Bennett) and 2014 (Andrew Wiggins)
Other Top-3 Picks: No. 3 in 2021
Dropped Out Of Top 3: 2012, 2019 and 2020
Details: Cleveland is one of only two teams to win the lottery four times. The Cavaliers were fortunate to pick No. 1 when James was available, and after he left, they were able to draft Irving, who would help James win a title when he returned. Since James' second departure, Cleveland has twice been knocked down from the No. 2 pick to No. 5, but that hasn't prevented the Cavs from working their way back into contention.
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Dallas Mavericks
Lottery Wins: None
Other Top-3 Picks: No. 2 in 1994
Dropped Out Of Top 3: 1986, 1992, 1993 and 2018
Details: The Mavericks are one of a small number of teams with a case as the unluckiest franchise in lottery history. Not only has Dallas never won the lottery, it has never once improved its pick position. The mid-1990s were particularly dire. In 1993 the Mavericks went 11-71 but dropped three spots to No. 4. A 13-69 mark the following season didn't yield the top pick either. Dallas has a 1.8% chance of landing the No. 1 selection this year.
Denver Nuggets
Lottery Wins: None
Other Top-3 Picks: No. 3 in 1998 and 2003
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Dropped Out Of Top 3: 1991
Details: The Nuggets are one of two teams in the lottery era that have never received the No. 1 or 2 pick — and the other is Utah, which hasn't had nearly as many awful seasons as Denver. The 1998 lottery included two recent expansion teams that weren't eligible for the top pick. That left the Nuggets, coming off a 71-loss season, with almost a 36% chance of winning the No. 1 selection. Instead they ended up third.
Detroit Pistons
Lottery Wins: 2021 (Cade Cunningham)
Other Top-3 Picks: No. 2 in 2003; No. 3 in 1994
Dropped Out Of Top 3: 2022, 2023 and 2024
Details: For a while, the Pistons weren't doing well in the lottery because they were never quite bad enough to improve their odds that much. But after landing Cunningham, Detroit won just 64 games over the next three seasons — and fell to the No. 5 pick each time.
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Golden State Warriors
Lottery Wins: 1995 (Joe Smith)
Other Top-3 Picks: No. 2 in 2020; No. 3 in 1986, 1993 and 2002
Dropped Out Of Top 3: 1985, 1988 and 2001
Details: The Warriors were the lottery's first big losers, receiving the No. 7 pick in the very first edition in 1985 after finishing tied for the worst record in the league. It wasn't long before the NBA changed the rules to make drops of that size impossible.
Houston Rockets
Lottery Wins: 2002 (Yao Ming)
Other Top-3 Picks: No. 2 in 2021; No. 3 in 2022 and 2024
Dropped Out Of Top 3: 2023
Details: The Rockets didn't need much lottery luck early on, having picked No. 1 in the last two years before it was instituted. They made good on a 9% chance to pick first in 2002, and the high selections they've landed lately have helped them become a threat again in the Western Conference. Houston has a 3.8% chance of winning the lottery this year, thanks to its control of a Phoenix pick.
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Indiana Pacers
Lottery Wins: None
Other Top-3 Picks: No. 2 in 1985 and 1988
Dropped Out Of Top 3: 1986
Details: Indiana was one of the worst teams in the league when the lottery began, and after narrowly missing out on Ewing, the Pacers fell from second to fourth in 1986.
Los Angeles Clippers
Lottery Wins: 1988 (Danny Manning), 1998 (Michael Olowokandi) and 2009 (Blake Griffin)
Other Top-3 Picks: No. 2 in 1989, 1995, 2001 and 2004; No. 3 in 1985 and 2000
Dropped Out Of Top 3: 1987 and 1999
Details: The Clippers have had bad luck in a variety of ways, but the lottery has generally treated them fairly. Three No. 1 picks and six more top-three picks more than make up for occasional disappointments, like missing out on David Robinson after a 12-win season in 1987.
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Los Angeles Lakers
Lottery Wins: None
Other Top-3 Picks: No. 2 in 2015, 2016, 2017
Dropped Out Of Top 3: None
Details: The Lakers famously won a coin flip for the Magic Johnson pick during the pre-lottery era. They moved up seven spots to No. 4 in the 2019 lottery before including that selection in a trade for Anthony Davis.
Memphis/Vancouver Grizzlies
Lottery Wins: None
Other Top-3 Picks: No. 2 in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2009 and 2019; No. 3 in 1996
Dropped Out Of Top 3: 1997, 2002, 2007 and 2018
Details: Plenty of No. 2 picks but no No. 1s. In 2003, the Grizzlies moved up four spots to No. 2, but that pick belonged to Detroit because of a trade. Had Memphis moved up one more spot to No. 1, its pick would have been protected — and the Grizzlies would have had a chance to draft LeBron James.
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Miami Heat
Lottery Wins: None
Other Top-3 Picks: No. 2 in 2008; No. 3 in 1990
Dropped Out Of Top 3: 1989 and 1991
Details: The Heat have neither needed nor received much help in the lottery recently, but they could have used some during the franchise's difficult early years. Miami dropped from first to fourth in 1989 after winning 15 games, then fell from second to fifth a couple years later.
Milwaukee Bucks
Lottery Wins: 1994 (Glenn Robinson) and 2005 (Andrew Bogut)
Other Top-3 Picks: No. 2 in 2014
Dropped Out Of Top 3: 2007
Details: Neither of those No. 1 picks was as much of a game changer for the Bucks as Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was taken outside the lottery in 2013.
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Minnesota Timberwolves
Lottery Wins: 2015 (Karl-Anthony Towns) and 2020 (Anthony Edwards)
Other Top-3 Picks: No. 2 in 2011; No. 3 in 1992 and 2008
Dropped Out Of Top 3: 1993, 1994, 1995 and 2010
Details: The 2020 lottery is the only time Minnesota has ever moved up. Even in 2015, the Timberwolves had the worst record in the league, so receiving the top pick was a lateral move of sorts.
New Orleans Pelicans/Hornets
Lottery Wins: 2012 (Anthony Davis) and 2019 (Zion Williamson)
Other Top-3 Picks: None
Dropped Out Of Top 3: 2005
Details: The New Orleans franchise is about half as old as the lottery itself — and already has won it twice. It moved up three spots for Davis and six for Williamson. And even a slip from No. 2 to No. 4 in 2005 ended up with Chris Paul on the team. New Orleans has a 12.5% chance of receiving the No. 1 pick this year.
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New York Knicks
Lottery Wins: 1985 (Patrick Ewing)
Other Top-3 Picks: No. 3 in 2019
Dropped Out Of Top 3: 1986, 1987 and 2015
Details: Conspiracy theorists have plenty of thoughts about the lottery that sent Ewing to New York, but two years later the Knicks took a brutally bad beat when they dropped from No. 2 to No. 5. Seattle had the right to swap picks with the Knicks, meaning New York actually fell all the way to No. 18 — but the pick would have been protected if it had remained in the top three. The New York Times called it 'the final indignity' of that season for the Knicks.
Oklahoma City Thunder/Seattle SuperSonics
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Lottery Wins: None
Other Top-3 Picks: No. 2 in 1990, 2007 and 2022; No. 3 in 2009
Dropped Out Of Top 3: 2008
Details: Of the eight franchises that have never won the lottery, this is one of the luckiest. While in Seattle, the team moved up eight picks to get Gary Payton in 1990 and climbed three spots to select Kevin Durant in 2007.
Orlando Magic
Lottery Wins: 1992 (Shaquille O'Neal), 1993 (Chris Webber), 2004 (Dwight Howard) and 2022 (Paolo Banchero)
Other Top-3 Picks: No. 2 in 2013
Dropped Out Of Top 3: 1990, 2000, 2014 and 2021
Details: The Magic pulled off a stunner when they landed the top pick with a 1-in-66 chance in 1993. That said, their other three No. 1 picks came when they had no worse than a 14% chance.
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Philadelphia 76ers
Lottery Wins: 1986 (traded pick), 1996 (Allen Iverson) and 2016 (Ben Simmons)
Other Top-3 Picks: No. 2 in 1993, 1997 and 2010, No. 3 in 1988, 1995, 2014, 2015 and 2017
Dropped Out Of Top 3: None
Details: If the Spurs aren't the luckiest team in lottery history, it might be the 76ers. Just look at all of those top-three picks. Philadelphia moved up five spots in 1986 to No. 1, three spots in 1988 to No. 3, three spots in 1993 to No. 2, three spots in 1997 to No. 2 and four spots in 2010 to No. 2. The 76ers never lost ground in the lottery until 2014 when they fell from No. 2 to No. 3 — and still landed Joel Embiid. Philadelphia has a 10.5% chance of landing the No. 1 pick this year.
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Phoenix Suns
Lottery Wins: 2018 (Deandre Ayton)
Other Top-3 Picks: No. 2 in 1987
Dropped Out Of Top 3: 2017 and 2019
Details: Aside from a dearth of top-three picks, the Suns also caught a tough break in 2007 when Atlanta moved up a spot to No. 3. Had the Hawks stayed at No. 4, that pick would have gone to Phoenix. Atlanta ended up sending the Suns the No. 15 selection the following year.
Portland Trail Blazers
Lottery Wins: 2007 (Greg Oden)
Other Top-3 Picks: No. 3 in 2005 and 2023
Dropped Out Of Top 3: 2006
Details: The Trail Blazers made the playoffs 21 consecutive seasons from 1983-2003. Then just four years later, they won the lottery despite having just a 5% chance. But they picked Oden over Kevin Durant. Portland has a 3.7% chance of receiving the No. 1 pick this year.
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Sacramento Kings
Lottery Wins: 1989 (Pervis Ellison)
Other Top-3 Picks: No. 2 in 2018; No. 3 in 1991
Dropped Out Of Top 3: 2009 and 2010
Details: Sacramento's lone lottery victory led to a forgettable selection at No. 1, but the Kings haven't had as many heartbreaking drops as you might think. Only once, in 2009, have they had the top pre-lottery position. Sacramento has a 0.8% chance of landing the No. 1 pick this year.
San Antonio Spurs
Lottery Wins: 1987 (David Robinson), 1997 (Tim Duncan) and 2023 (Victor Wembanyama)
Other Top-3 Picks: No. 3 in 1989
Dropped Out Of Top 3: None
Details: The Spurs have quite a routine going: They win the lottery, draft a generational big man, then come back a decade or two later and repeat the process as needed. From 1985 through 2019, San Antonio missed the playoffs only three times, and in two of those years, the Spurs won the lottery. Then they did it again in 2023. San Antonio has a 6.7% chance of landing the No. 1 pick this year.
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Toronto Raptors
Lottery Wins: 2006 (Andrea Bargnani)
Other Top-3 Picks: No. 2 in 1996
Dropped Out Of Top 3: 1998, 2003 and 2011
Details: This is a team that has had mediocre stretches while rarely being truly awful. One No. 1 pick in franchise history feels about right, although it wasn't the best year for it. The Raptors have a 7.5% chance of winning this year's lottery.
Utah Jazz
Lottery Wins: None
Other Top-3 Picks: No. 3 in 2011
Dropped Out Of Top 3: None
Details: The Jazz haven't been in the lottery much over the past four decades, and when they have they've often been an afterthought. If not for a trade that gave them the Nets' pick at No. 3 in the 2011 lottery, they would have a 'None' in all three of the above categories. This year should be a lot less boring for Utah, one way or the other. The Jazz are in the top pre-lottery spot and have a 14% chance of landing the No. 1 pick.
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Washington Wizards/Bullets
Lottery Wins: 2001 (Kwame Brown) and 2010 (John Wall)
Other Top-3 Picks: No. 2 in 2024; No. 3 in 2012 and 2013
Dropped Out Of Top 3: 1993, 1995, 2004 and 2009
Details: Washington's lottery history has generally been dreary, but only 11 teams have received multiple No. 1 picks over the past 40 years, so the Wizards' luck hasn't been all bad. Their biggest jump was five spots to No. 3 in 2013. Washington has a 14% chance of receiving the No. 1 pick this year.
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(AP reviewed data on realgm.com as part of its research to compile this report.)
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
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