Breaking down three of the biggest takeaways after a shocking 2024 NBA Draft Lottery.
The 2024 NBA Draft lottery is officially complete and now we know the exact order of the first fourteen picks in this year’s draft. The lottery isn’t the most exciting event in the NBA, but it usually draws the attention of fans whose team has a solid chance of landing the No. 1 overall pick.
This year, the lottery had a ton of drama as the expected draft order was shaken up just a few picks into the lottery. Let’s go through the biggest takeaways from this year’s NBA Draft lottery and what the results mean for the draft.
1. The Atlanta Hawks and Houston Rockets skyrocket up the lottery
Heading into the lottery, the Rockets and Hawks were projected to have the 10th and 9th pick respectively. The Rockets had just a 20.3% chance to rise into the top four with their pick from the Brooklyn Nets while the Hawks had just a 13.9% chance to rise into the top four. However, these teams got extremely lucky as the Hawks won the entire lottery and got the No. 1 overall pick while the Rockets got the No. 3 pick.
The Hawks had a 3% chance to win the No. 1 pick, so this result was extremely surprising. This is a big moment for the franchise as they were expected to make significant changes to their roster this summer, including possibly trading their star point guard Trae Young. Now they may change their plans as they will have a chance to add a talented young player on a cheap contract to their roster.
If they selected Alex Sarr, a 19-year-old center from France and the consensus top-ranked player in the class, they could trade Dejounte Murray and Clint Capela and build around a core of Trae Young, Jalen Johnson, Alex Sarr, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and Onyeka Okongwu, which is a solid foundation to build upon for the future.
The Rockets are in an interesting spot as well because they have a ton of young players on their roster and they don’t necessarily need another one. However, it never hurts to have more young players who have the potential to become a star or a valuable trade asset in the future. Perhaps they should consider trading the pick to get a talented veteran to help their roster become more competitive next season.
If they decide to keep the pick, they could go in several different directions but it seems they will most likely target one of Zaccharie Risacher, Donovan Clingan, Nikola Topic, or possibly Reed Sheppard or Matas Buzelis. Of course, it’s early in the process, but it seems like these are the players who will most likely be in consideration for the third pick.
Although most analysts consider this draft class to be underwhelming, there are some extremely talented players available who could be quite good at the next level. Sure, there’s not a prospect with an obvious superstar upside, but that doesn’t mean the draft class is bad. Hawks and Rockets fans should be extremely excited about jumping up this high in the draft.
2. The Detroit Pistons fall out of the top four…again
If you have any friends who are Pistons fans, please check on them. Send them a text and make sure they are ok because I’m sure they are not handling the lottery results very well.
The reason why Pistons fans are probably in the fetal position is because they fell to the No. 5 pick despite having the best odds to land the No. 1 pick. To add insult to injury, this same scenario happened last year. Despite having over a 50% chance of getting a top-four pick in the last two lotteries, the Pistons will be picking No. 5 once again. The odds of this happening in consecutive years is very low.
While Pistons fans are likely distraught, this isn’t as big of a deal as it may seem on the surface. This year’s draft has a lot of talent, but I’d argue there probably isn’t one player who is a tier above everyone else. On top of this, there are a number of really good players in this class who could be available at No. 5.
Right now, I think Reed Sheppard would be a solid choice and I like his fit next to Cade Cunningham due to his elite three-point shooting and activity on defense. To be honest, anyone with a functional three-point shot would be a good fit in Detroit
3. The San Antonio Spurs get two picks in the top 10
I’m sure I’m not the only person who was extremely confused when the Spurs got the No. 8 pick and then proceeded to jump into the top four. I was under the impression that they would only have one pick in the top ten, but that is clearly not the case.
For anyone else who may be unaware, the Spurs got the No. 8 pick from the Toronto Raptors as part of the Jakob Poeltl trade. On top of this, their own pick moved up one spot to No. 4, giving them two top 10 picks. Not a bad scenario for a team that just got a generational prospect in Victor Wembanyama last summer.
This is great for the Spurs who now have a chance to give Wemby some help. They desperately need a point guard, so I would love to see them target Nikola Topic, Reed Sheppard, or Rob Dillingham with at least one of their picks. I would be interested in seeing a Victor Wembanyama-Kyle Filipowski pairing in the front court as well, though I doubt the Duke big man goes that high.
Whatever the Spurs decide to do with their picks, I am extremely excited to see what their team looks like over the next couple of years. You better get some sunglasses, because the future is bright in San Antonio.