How The 2021 NBA Draft Lottery can still impact the Knicks

NBA Draft Lottery: 4th Selection goes to Minnesota ⇓ -3

This is another bold prediction I am making. Remember that Minnesota’s 1st round pick was traded to Golden State with a top 3 protection placed on it. Minnesota had a 27.6% chance of getting into the top 3, so them losing the pick to Golden State is not a surprise. However, if Adam Silver got his way, he would want the pick to transfer to Golden State at the highest possible value, which would be in the 4th spot. It’s likely that Golden State packages the pick in a trade for a star player. While Klay he will be coming back, it will be after missing two seasons because of major injuries. We can’t expect Klay to regain his old form at age 31 after recovering from a torn ACL and Achilles tendon, that is too much to ask.

The NBA desperately needs the Warriors to be relevant as Steph Curry has surpassed LeBron James as the most popular player. He is the only player that still moves the ratings needle, not even LeBron James does that nowadays. There is nothing more Adam Silver wants than to get the same ratings they got for the Warriors vs. Lakers play-in game, (5.6 million viewers) for a 7 game playoff series.

As for Minnesota, they can’t complain. They won the lottery in 2015 and selected Karl-Anthony Towns and won it last year and got an exciting player and potential rookie of the year, Anthony Edwards. Minnesota has a lot of talent and just needs the right veteran role players to improve.

3rd Selection goes to Chicago ⇑ +5

This is a major win for Chicago as they move all the way up from the 8th pick to the 3rd, just like Charlotte did last season. Now they have a lot options at their disposal. They can either draft one of the best prospects in the NBA draft: Jalen Suggs or Evan Mobley to add to their young core of Coby White and Patrick Williams. Or they can trade the pick to add another star to play alongside Nikola Vucevic and Zach LaVine.

2nd Selection goes to Houston ⇓ -1

After sweating the unveiling of the envelop for the 5th pick where they had the greatest  odds of landing (47.9%), Houston is ecstatic that they only fell 1 spot to the 2nd pick. The team with the worst record has a higher probability of landing the 5th pick than the 1st pick (14.0%). That was something no one mentioned in 2019 when the Knicks had the worst record. Knick fans should be grateful that the Knicks only slid to the 3rd pick and were able to draft RJ Barrett.

While is doesn’t something Adam Silver would want to happen as Houston is a major market team that was forced to trade James Harden. Houston does have some good building blocks in place to get better quickly. They have Christian Wood, a healthy John Wall, a nice young player in Kevin Porter Jr., cap space, and lots of draft picks. Getting a franchise caliber player like Evan Mobley or Jalen Suggs will help accelerate Houston’s rebuild and help the fans get over the departure of James Harden.

1st Selection goes to Detroit ⇑ +1

Then there is Detroit, who is in the worst shape of all. If there are Basketball Gods, they would help the Detroit Pistons. Their owner, Tom Gores, is a great leader, who is willing to do what it takes to make the team good. Unfortunately, he leads the league in dead money. After just making the final $5.3M payment last season for the buy out of a disgruntled Josh Smith ($27M), he then has to turnaround and buy out Blake Griffin, $62.43M stretched over 2 seasons. Let’s not also forget Derrick Rose, who pushed for a trade to the Knicks. Detroit only got a late 2nd round pick and Dennis Smith Jr. for a player that ended up leading the Knicks to the playoffs and earning 1 MVP vote.

It has to hurt Detroit to watch the two New York teams benefit at their expense. What Blake Griffin did is unheard of. He magically went from having bad knees and losing his athleticism, not dunking since 2019, to on occasion looking like “Lob City Blake Griffin” with some of the posterizing dunks he’s made in the playoffs.

The only way the Pistons will be able to compete in the near future will be by having good players on rookie salaries. Having over $64M in dead money on the books for through next season because of Blake Griffin has stripped them of their ability to acquire good veteran players.

Now, that the NBA Draft Lottery order has been predicted; on to the possible ways it could impact the Knicks’ offseason.