Everything you need to know about the 2017 NBA Draft Lottery

How does the Lottery work?

This is a source of some confusion. Not everyone knows how this actually works.

The Lottery actually takes place before the show on ESPN. Each team sends a representative to this private room and they are sequestered for the duration of the Lottery show with all their cell phones and communication devices confiscated. Essentially they are there to witness the actual Lottery to ensure it is above board.

You can see in the video above of the 2014 NBA Draft Lottery drawing, how procedural and . . . boring it is. It is not good TV for sure.

The actual Lottery is not a complex process.

The league places 14 ping pong balls numbered 1-14 in a drum. They then draw four balls from the drum. That creates a number combination.

What the teams are fighting for in Lottery position is the number of combinations they receive. It is weighted, of course, to favor teams that finish lower in the standings. The top team gets 250 of the 1,001 four-number combinations for the numbers 1-14. And it is actually the first 250 combinations — virtually every combination that would include the No. 1.

The top team gets 250 of the 1,001 four-number combinations for the numbers 1-14. And it is actually the first 250 combinations — virtually every combination that would include the No. 1.

Really watching it (above) is the best way to explain it. But, let’s say the numbers 1-2-3-4 are drawn from the drum. The team with that number combination wins the Lottery. If the next combination drawn is 3-5-7-11, the team with that number combination wins the second pick. And then if the next combination is 2-5-8-9, the team with that combination gets the third pick.

It all seems complex, but it is fairly simple. The tedious part is finding who owns what combination after the numbers are drawn.