How The 2021 NBA Draft Lottery can still impact the Knicks
By Ken Tavarez
NBA Draft Lottery: 8th Selection goes to Toronto ⇓ -1
The first surprise of the night occurs as the Raptors fall back one slot to the 8th pick. Might not sound like a big deal as they had a 33.9% of landing in 8th slot, almost the same as Chicago who had the highest chances at 34.5%. But this change in the order means that Chicago has jumped into the top 4 !! They only had a 20.2% chance of getting into the top 4. But just as important, they keep their pick which was sent to Orlando in the Nikola Vucevic trade, but with a top 4 protection attached to it.
Adam Silver would love this to happen as it now gives the Bulls, who play in one of the largest media markets a chance to turn themselves into a very good playoff team. With ratings being down, Silver would love to see the excitement created in New York by the Knicks making the playoffs replicated in all the major markets.
7th Selection goes to Cleveland ⇓ -2
The dominoes keep falling, with Toronto moving down one spot to 8th, someone needs to fill the vacated 7th spot. Cleveland falls back 2 slots, they had the 2nd highest odds of landing the 7th pick at 25.5%. Cleveland can’t complain as they have been one of the luckiest teams in lottery history, they have won it 4 times. The first in 2003, when they were able to draft local kid LeBron James. They also won the lottery 3 out the 4 years that LeBron was playing in Miami.
6th Selection goes to Oklahoma City ⇓ -2
The Thunder drop 2 spots from 4th to 6th. They had the highest odds of landing the 6th pick at 27.1%. This would be poetic justice in the eyes of Adam Silver and many NBA fans. The Thunder blatantly tanked this season, losing many games by over 30 points. This is something the commissioner despises. Also, if there is a team that can afford to slide back in the NBA draft, it is OKC. They have a treasure trove of draft picks they can use to move up in the draft and also to acquire good veteran players.
5th Selection goes to Orlando ⇓ -2
Orlando moves down 2 spots from 3rd to 5th, which is not great for the Magic but it is for Houston. The Rockets dodge a bullet as their pick was subject to a conditional swap with OKC if it fell out of the top 4. They would have ended up with the worse of OKC’s two 1st round picks, the 18th overall pick.
This seems like bad needs for the Magic until you check the odds. Orlando had a higher probability of landing the 6th pick (26.0%), more than twice as much as staying with the 3rd pick (12.7%). The Magic are one of the few teams that will be doing a complete rebuild as they are in dire need of great young talent.
Two of their young core players that were signed to long term extensions, Jonathan Isaac and Markelle Fultz, are recovering from serious knee injuries. Orlando can’t rely on either to regain their old forms, so they desperately need another great young player to pair with Cole Anthony to get the fanbase excited. They should be able to land a franchise caliber player like Jonathan Kuminga, the top rated small forward. It’s also very likely that Orlando will be one of the worst teams next season, so they will get another shot at a top prospect in the 2022 NBA draft.
Now let’s see how the top 4 shake out, the final four teams are: Chicago, Minnesota, Detroit, and Houston.