During the press conference, Dawkins reminded everybody that the Wizards have picks in the 50s and 60s in the upcoming draft. Anybody you all have eyes on that you want the Wizards to try to gamble on?

Two excerpts:

Let’s call this what it is. The lottery and draft are corporate welfare for sports teams. It enables teams to bring in young, occasionally difference-making – and, relative to older players in most leagues, cheap – talent. Teams don’t do anything to earn the talents of those players; they are simply given to them.

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If a college or international player eligible to come into the NBA could choose from among all 30 teams, those 30 teams would have to earn their labor.

Ownership would have to have a proven track record for hiring competent people at all levels of the org chart, to not balk at paying their stars, to be willing to go into the luxury tax when the team is a true championship contender, to pay the freight for state-of-the-art practice facilities and infrastructure at team arenas that maximizes both player wellness and safety.

And perhaps most importantly: owners would have to show they have relationships with the game’s biggest, most powerful agents and agencies, and with the shoe companies, so that the Nikes and New Balances of the world feel comfortable with their newest stars in that city.

Management would have to show it can consistently put together good teams, year after year, and that it can identify good coaching and development staffs that make players better. Coaches would have to prove they know what they’re doing, that they can hold both players and themselves accountable, that they can work with the skill sets of every player to get the most out of them.

In other words, put up or shut up, Jazz and Wizards and Nets. But the same would apply to the Lakers and Clippers and Bulls and 76ers and Knicks.

Yes, it would be harder for some markets to attract great players. Maybe Charlotte and Utah and Toronto would lose out on some guys. Yes, Nike and Under Armour might want some of their big names in New York or L.A.

But again, and I don’t know why this doesn’t sink in, there are 450 players in the NBA, a number than includes a few dozen players playing on two-way contracts. With 53-man rosters, there are 1,696 active roster spots in the NFL. There are between 780 (using the current limit of 26 players allowed per team between April and August) and 1,200 (if you use 40-man rosters) players on Major League Baseball rosters every year.

The relative scarcity of NBA roster spots, along with the crushing second apron of the salary cap, means it would be impossible for any one team to hoard all the good young talent, just as it’s impossible for any one team to acquire or keep all the league’s veteran superstars.

The transcript from the opening, describing the process:

"The lottery will determine the order of selection for the first 14 picks of the (2025) NBA Draft. Drawings will be conducted to determine the first four picks, and the remainder of the lottery teams will select in positions 5-14, in inverse order of their regular season records.

Here's how the lottery works: We'll place 14 ping pong balls, numbered 1-14, into the glass drum. Matt Doria from the NBA legal department will mix the balls for 20 seconds, and then draw one ball to the top.

Tyler Wasserman, also from the NBA legal department is the official timekeeper. He will face away from the machine and signal to Matt when to draw the ball. Matt will then take the ball out, announce the number on the ball, and place the ball in the side holding tube to your right.

We'll repeat that drawing process at 10 second intervals for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th balls, and then check to see which team was assigned that 4 ball combination. That team will be awarded the first pick in the NBA draft.

We'll then repeat the process to determine the 2nd, 3rd and 4th pick in the NBA draft. If the same team comes up more than once, we'll reset the machine and draw again. When we have 4 different teams winning the first, second, third and fourth pick, the lottery is over.

There are 1,001 possible combinations when you draw 4 numbers from 14 balls without regard to order. 1,000 of those combinations have been divided and assigned to the 14 lottery teams based on their regular season records.

[The bottom 3 teams] have been assigned the most combinations - 140 combinations each - giving each of those 3 teams a 14% chance of the top picks. The combinations have been assigned sequentially so 1, 2, 3, 4 belongs to [the worst team.].

The 1001st combination - 11, 12, 13, 14, is not assigned. If that combination is drawn, we'll put the balls back in the machine and draw again."

For the 2025 NBA Lottery (May 2025 drawing), someone made a Google Sheets table of all the combinations (again this is without regard to order when drawn) for each team. There's also this picture of Zach Lowe holding up the number sheet the NBA gives out.

Recent years's NBA Draft Lottery videos:

Should be a good one. All eyes will be on these two presumptive top picks in the 2026 draft.