Change in the NBA Lottery System

A new lottery system in the NBA will take effect in the 2019 draft. It was announced today by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

The three highest lottery seeds will now all have a 14% chance of getting the top pick while the team with the worst record will have a 25% chance. The team with the second-worst record will have a 19.9% chance while the team with the third-worst record will have a 15.6% chance.

Also with the lottery change comes an increase to four from three when determining the number of picks each teams gets. The team with the absolute worst record could fall to the fifth pick whereas in the previous lottery system they would have been the fourth. The second-worst won't pick lower than the sixth, the third-seed won't pick worse than the seventh and finally the fourth-seed won't pick worse than the eighth.

While not all team executives are excited about this change (because it hurts their chances of getting the best player), I think this change will overall be positive for the NBA. This change ultimately allows every team a more fair chance to grow and improve every year.