Portland Trail Blazers fans guide to the 2022 NBA Draft Lottery
Ed Stein
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Tuesday night is NBA Draft Lottery. We have your breakdown of the Portland Trail Blazers’ chances for each draft position.
While the NBA moves into their Conference Finals, the Portland Trail Blazers began preparations for 2022-23 a few weeks ago. Tuesday night is the unofficial start of draft season with the televised NBA Draft Lottery from Chicago at 5:00 PM PDT on ESPN. The Blazers can greatly improve their team with a high pick.
Last season Portland finished with a 27-55 record, which was sixth worst in the NBA. Consequently, they have the sixth-best odds of landing the number one overall pick at 9.0 percent. The five teams above them, Houston, Orlando, Detroit, Oklahoma City, and Indiana, combine for a 65.0 chance of picking first.
Depending on who’s evaluating, there are two to four players who sit at the top of this draft class, Chet Holmgren, center, 7-1, Gonzaga; Paolo Banchero, power forward, 6-10 Duke; Jaden Ivey, shooting guard, 6-4, Purdue; and Jabari Smith, power forward, 6-10, Auburn. Combined, the Portland Trail Blazers have a 37.2 percent chance of landing in the top four.
It’s good to look up, but Blazers fans should prepare for a move down. As a matter of fact. There is a better than 50/50 chance (50.3 percent, to be exact) that they wind up with either the seventh or eighth pick overall. Which still gets them a someone in the next tier.
It could get a little worse. According to the lottery setup, Portland could drop as far as 10th, but it’s highly unlikely. Their combined odds of falling out of the top eight are 3.8 percent.
Portland Trail Blazers percent odds for each pick:
1st – 9.0
2nd – 9.2
3rd – 9.4
4th – 9.6
5th – N/A
6th – 8.6
7th – 29.8
8th – 20.5
9th – 3.7
10th – 0.1
The team is sending star guard Damian Lillard to Chicago as their representative. So Portland Trail Blazers Nation, hope for the best, prepare for something else, and just maybe Dame has some stored magic in him that he didn’t use while injured last year.
Related Story: Blazers mock draft compilation 1.0
How do you feel about the Portland Trail Blazers chances of landing a high pick in the NBA Draft Lottery? Let us know in the comments section below.