The 2023 NBA Draft has the most exciting prospect at the top of the board since LeBron James with several teams hoping to get a chance at drafting him. While the Los Angeles Lakers are not in the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes, they still cold have NBA lottery implications.
Los Angeles has a pick swap with the Pelicans, meaning that they will get the worse of the two selections. For a while, it looked like the Pelicans were going to make out with a great pick with the legitimate concern that the Lakers could give them a shot at Wembanyama.
However, that has since flipped with the Lakers now having a better record than New Orleans. If Los Angeles ends up in the top eight in the Western Conference then the NBA Draft Lottery won’t matter at all. That being said, if they end up in the NBA Play-In Tournament then they will be one of the teams with ping-pong balls to pick from.
When is the NBA Draft Lottery?
The NBA Draft Lottery will be held on Tuesday, May 23, which will be during the NBA Playoffs. Coverage begins at 5 p.m. PDT.
How to watch the NBA Draft Lottery:
Coverage of the NBA Draft Lottery will be presented by ESPN. Those that do not have a cable subscription can sign up for a seven-day free trial of FuboTV to watch all of the action go down on ESPN.
Lakers NBA Draft Lottery odds:
As already mentioned, the Lakers are going to get the worst of the two picks between them and the Pelicans and will not be in the lottery at all if they end up making it in the top-eight of the Western Conference.
If the Lakers end up with the 14th-worst record in the league then they will have a 3.4% chance of getting a top-four pick and a 0.7% chance of getting the first overall pick. If they end up with the 13th-worst record they will have a 3.8% chance of a top-four pick and a 0.8% chance of the first overall pick.
Of course, if that happened then the pick would almost certainly convey to the Pelicans. As it stands right now, New Orleans has a 10.3% chance of getting a top-four pick and a 2.2% chance of getting the first overall pick.
If things stay the way they are and the Lakers have the 14th-best record in the league then they will almost certainly get a pick at the back end of the lottery. There would be a 0.35% chance of both the Pelicans and Lakers getting a top-four pick.