The Detroit Pistons have finished with the worst record in the NBA the past two seasons, but the draft lottery has been incredibly cruel to them.
For then second consecutive year, the Pistons have landed the No. 5 overall pick in the NBA Draft. They had a 14% chance of securing the No. 1 pick both years and more than a 50% chance of having a top-3 pick, but it did not happen either time.
The Atlanta Hawks, who had just a 3% chance to win the NBA Draft Lottery, will have the No. 1 pick next month. Detroit is the only team to ever have the best odds to win the lottery and then land at No. 5, and it happened two straight years.
No team had EVER dropped from 1 to 5 in the history of the NBA Draft Lottery…
It’s now happened to the Detroit Pistons TWO years in a row.
Incredible.
— Ryan Field (@RyanFieldABC) May 12, 2024
Here are the full results:
NBA Draft Lottery results for one of the weakest drafts in recent memory pic.twitter.com/DThNRqqam3
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) May 12, 2024
The purpose of the draft lottery is to discourage tanking, but what happened to the Pistons just seems cruel. Though, the 2024 NBA Draft class is viewed as being one of the weakest in years, so perhaps Detroit will not miss out on much.
The Pistons signed head coach Monty Williams to a huge deal last year, but they still finished 14-68. They may try to make another big hire this summer.
