After a dispiriting season which saw them tally one of their worst regular seasons yet, the Indiana Pacers enter the offseason as one of the teams with a sterling shot at nabbing the top prize in the upcoming NBA Draft Lottery.
For the first time in literal decades, the Pacers are guaranteed to select earlier than tenth, setting them up to draft a high-ceiling prospect who should immediately contribute to the team next season.
Here are what Pacers fans should know about the lottery.
The Indiana Pacers will be a team to watch in the 2022 NBA Draft Lottery
The 2022 NBA Draft Lottery will commence on Tuesday, May 17 in Chicago. The results will be pronounced to the public at 8 p.m. ET.
Houston, Orlando, and Detroit finished the season with the three worst records in the league and now hold a similar 14 percent chance to end up with the first selection in the draft. Meanwhile, Oklahoma City finished with the fourth-worst win-loss card and will enter the lottery with a 12.5 percent shot to secure the top pick.
The Indiana Pacers, owners of the fifth-worst record this season, carry a 10.5 percent chance to nab the foremost selection. They also have a 42.1 percent chance to land a top-four selection.
Overall, here are all the possibilities and the corresponding likelihood for the Pacers to get each selection:
- 1st: 10.5 percent
- 2nd: 10.5 percent
- 3rd: 10.6 percent
- 4th: 10.5 percent
- 5th: 2.2 percent
- 6th: 19.6 percent
- 7th: 26.7 percent
- 8th: 8.7 percent
- 9th: 0.6 percent
The drawing process will only be done to determine the holders of the top-four selections. The rest of the lottery, spanning from the fifth to the 14th pick, will be decided by the inverse record of the remaining lottery teams in the regular season.
While unrelated to the lottery, the Pacers also hold the 31st and 60th selections in the second round of the 2022 NBA Draft.
Last season, the Indiana Pacers selected Oregon’s Chris Duarte with the 13th pick before trading for Isaiah Jackson, who was picked at 22nd by the Los Angeles Lakers. ‘