May 12, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, US; A person watches the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery at McCormick Place. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images David Banks-Imagn Images

Here's how to fix the NBA Draft Lottery so teams like the Hornets, Jazz don't get disadvantaged

Originally posted on Charlotte Hornets on SI
By Zach Roberts | Last updated May 13, 2025 8:10 AM ET

It happens frequently, but the NBA Draft Lottery handed the number one overall pick to a rather undeserving team once again on Monday night. It hurt the Charlotte Hornets, Washington Wizards, and Utah Jazz pretty badly in the process. None of the three worst teams got a top-three pick, and three playoff teams who got hurt last year took advantage.

It's no secret that the current draft lottery system is not exactly fair. There's no case to be made that the Dallas Mavericks deserved the top pick over those three teams, the Brooklyn Nets, New Orleans Pelicans, or Toronto Raptors. There's no case to be made that the Mavs, San Antonio Spurs, and Philadelphia 76ers should be picking one, two, and three this year. The same was true with the Atlanta Hawks in 2024, New Orleans Pelicans in 2019, Cleveland Cavaliers in 2014, and New Orleans Hornets (Pelicans) in 2012.

The lottery is and always has been a very flawed system that attempts, nobly, to prevent tanking. The only problem is that it doesn't prevent tanking, it just punishes teams that are bad (whether by design or not). If the NBA is insistent on having a lottery, which they certainly are, there is a way to fix it.

This is not a new take, and it's not reactionary. The Hornets somehow wriggled their way into the top four and had by far the best shot at taking the number one pick, but somehow got fourth behind three far less deserving squads. That is true, but I have said before and will say it forever: the draft lottery is bad and needs to be fixed.

The NBA should run the lottery in two or three tiers. The top-five worst teams can all have a shot at the first overall pick, but no one else should. Those teams should have staggered percentages to get the top pick, with the worst team having the best chance since they were the worst.

For example, this would mean that in 2025, here's how the top five would look:

Utah Jazz: 24% chance
Washington Wizards: 22% chance
Charlotte Hornets: 20% chance
New Orleans Pelicans: 18% chance
Philadelphia 76ers: 16% chance

This gives five teams a legitimate shot at winning it, and there would be a legitimate case for all of them to take home the top pick. The rest of the teams can be done similarly in their own two tiers, or in an effort to preserve the true spirit of the current lottery, just one tier.

The remaining teams would be given a chance to move up as high as sixth overall, and every team would have a chance to fall as far as 14th overall, too. Yes, this does entice teams to get into the top five, but they're already very enticed to do that anyway. This system just makes sure that they're not left hanging every year.

The Detroit Pistons fell to fifth after having the worst record twice. The Utah Jazz did that this year. That could still happen, but it would happen in a situation where good, borderline playoff teams don't jump them.

It keeps it random and prevents a team from going all-out to ensure they get that first pick while also giving the truly bad teams the chance to improve and keeps the rich from getting richer, which is what we saw on full display last night.