CHICAGO – A compelling case can be made that the most anticipated NBA draft lotteries of this decade took place in 2012 and 2019, when the consensus No. 1 pick was ranked so far ahead of other prospects that there was no debate about who’d be the top selection. Incredibly, despite 13.6 percent odds in ’12 and only a 6.0 percent chance in Tuesday’s drawing, the New Orleans Pelicans won both.
Given the stakes this time, the team that landed the first overall pick in the June 20 draft figured to be the event’s biggest winner, a description that applied to the Pelicans after their unlikely lotto triumph.