Apr 13, 2025; Miami, Florida, USA; Washington Wizards guard Bub Carrington (8) celebrates the Wizards win against the Miami Heat at Kaseya Center. Mandatory Credit: Rhona Wise-Imagn Images Rhona Wise-Imagn Images

Even Without Results, Wizards' Process Was Correct

Originally posted on Washington Wizards on SI
By Henry Brown | Last updated May 14, 2025 2:00 PM ET

The whole charade of the NBA Draft lottery is being criticized as much as we've heard since the odds were flattened in 2019, making it more likely for better teams to jump the tanking favorites and snatch up top picks in a draft.

It's how New Orleans won the 2019 Zion Williamson sweepstakes with a 6% chance, how Atlanta won last year's pool with 3% odds, and how Dallas won the rights to Cooper Flagg on Monday with just a 1.8% chance at the top pick.

With fans of tanking teams with no other alternative at getting better than hoping for draft luck, ESPN's Mike Greenberg piled on to defend the process. "Tanking is a disgrace," the analyst said. "Win games."

Mike Greenberg defends Adam Silver’s handling of the lottery process

“Tanking is a disgrace…Win games... the NFL should add this. Every sport should add this. The lottery is a brilliant idea.”

( @GetUpESPN / h/t @awfulannouncing )

pic.twitter.com/o1pbdnxCTO
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) May 13, 2025

His message works well for teams like Dallas and San Antonio who likely never expected to enter the top two in the lottery order, but completely misses the mark on a team like Philadelphia, who molded their team to purposely lose 31 of their final 36 games after realizing they had no shot at contending for the 2025 title.

Greenberg also overlooks just how rudderless he's asking teams to be when they're trying to win with nothing, when he's just describing the Wizards of the early 2020s. These teams have no choice but to hope a young star drops into the lap, because they have often have no pull as free agency destinations and often lack the assets or the infrastructure to successfully trade for a star.

The Wizards have built a sound foundation of prospects using several picks well below #1, and just because they swung and missed this season doesn't mean they're done trying. They'll be back, as will the Jazz, the Hornets and everyone else still waiting on their next stroke of luck.

This article first appeared on Washington Wizards on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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