Flipping out: Tiebreaker coin flip hurts Kings' draft position

The Utah Jazz and Sacramento Kings finished with identical 22-60 records last season. First, the Jazz won a coin flip tiebreaker, then they moved up to No. 2 in June's draft in the lottery, while the Kings dropped to No. 7.

It's a brutal result for the Kings, who as late as March 9 had the NBA's worst record. Then they continued to play hard, going 8-10 in the season's last five weeks — and dropped dramatically in the draft.

Sacramento Kings had terrible draft luck all around

When NBA teams have the same record, the league uses a simple solution: Flipping a coin. A week after the season, the league broke six ties, but none as significant as the one between the Kings and Jazz. 

Utah's original win meant they were guaranteed a top-8 pick, even if four teams with worse records leapfrogged them in the draw. That was crucial because the Oklahoma City Thunder would have received Utah's pick had it fallen outside the first eight selections.

The Kings owned their own pick, so they simply lost one position. Until the Memphis Grizzlies and Chicago Bulls landed the third and fourth picks, which pushed the Kings down two more spots. It's a brutal result for a team that would have had better lottery odds if they'd resorted to the tanking depths other teams tried.

Kings were punished for ethical basketball

The Kings were well out of the playoff race early in the season, but still went 3-3 in April. They hurt their draft cause by defeating nine of their fellow lottery teams after the All-Star break, yet the Kings had to face an NBA investigation about tanking after head coach Doug Christie made a coaching mistake.

By contrast, the Jazz drew a $500K fine for repeatedly benching their starters in the fourth quarter, the second straight season they've been fined for tanking. The Indiana Pacers got a $100K fine for resting healthy players, though they ended up losing their first-round pick anyway after dropping to No. 5.

It's more bad luck for the Kings, though their history suggests they'd screw up their pick eventually. In 2018, they moved up five spots in the lottery, but selected Marvin Bagley one spot ahead of Luka Doncic. In 2017, they moved up five spots — but had traded their pick in a bizarre salary dump. Instead, the Boston Celtics used the pick on Jayson Tatum.

The coin flip was unkind to the Kings. It may end up flipping their entire future.