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The 2014 NBA Draft Lottery, set for Tuesday, May 20th at 8:00 PM Eastern/5:00 PM Pacific, will determine the order in which the 14 teams who did not qualify for the postseason will select in the June's Draft. Mark Jones, Jay Bilas, and Heather Cox will provide live coverage for ESPN. The Draft Lottery will also be available online at WatchESPN.com.
The Orlando Magic finished the 2013/14 season with a 23-59 record, the NBA's third-worst. As a result, they have the third-best odds--15.6 percent--of earning the first overall pick in the NBA Draft; in addition, Orlando can pick no lower than sixth overall.
Pat Williams, the Magic's Senior Vice President, is scheduled to represent his team at Tuesday's event. Williams was present for each of Orlando's three other lottery wins in 1992, 1993, and 2004.
Below are the odds of earning a top-four selection for each of the league's 14 lottery teams. The rightmost column lists the odds of each team's finishing outside the top four.
|
Team |
No. 1 |
No. 2 |
No. 3 |
No. 4 |
Outside top 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
25.00% |
21.49% |
17.75% |
35.76% |
0.00% |
|
|
19.90% |
18.80% |
17.10% |
31.86% |
12.35% |
|
|
Orlando Magic |
15.60% |
15.73% |
15.56% |
22.53% |
30.58% |
|
10.40% |
11.20% |
12.09% |
9.85% |
56.45% |
|
|
10.30% |
11.11% |
12.01% |
0.00% |
66.59% |
|
|
6.30% |
7.09% |
8.10% |
0.00% |
78.50% |
|
|
4.30% |
4.94% |
5.78% |
0.00% |
84.98% |
|
|
2.80% |
3.26% |
3.88% |
0.00% |
90.06% |
|
|
1.70% |
2.00% |
2.41% |
0.00% |
93.89% |
|
|
1.10% |
1.30% |
1.58% |
0.00% |
96.02% |
|
|
0.80% |
0.95% |
1.15% |
0.00% |
96.02% |
|
|
0.70% |
0.83% |
1.01% |
0.00% |
97.46% |
|
|
0.60% |
0.71% |
0.87% |
0.00% |
97.82% |
|
|
0.50% |
0.59% |
0.72% |
0.00% |
98.18% |
History might be on the Magic's side despite their not owning the best mathematical odds for the top pick. Twice in the last five Lotteries has the team with the third-best odds, as Orlando has, gone on to win the Lottery. Those teams were the Los Angeles Clippers (2009, Blake Griffin) and the Cavaliers (2013, Anthony Bennett).