One of the biggest upsets in the 41-year history of the NBA draft lottery happened Monday — and as a result, the 39-43 Dallas Mavericks will have the first pick in the 2025 NBA draft, due to their having won the lottery.
(In the 1992-93 season, the Orlando Magic were 41-41, yet did not even make the playoffs — and they won the ensuing lottery and drafted Shaquille O'Neal; under Shaq's leadership, it took the Magic just two years to get all the way to the NBA Finals, in which they were swept in four games by the Rockets).
But should Dallas have been in the lottery at all because they qualified for the play-in — in effect having made the playoffs?
The Mavs' in-state rivals, the 34-48 San Antonio Spurs, secured the second spot in the lottery — while the Sixers, who, because of the complicated ramifications of a trade, could have been shut out of the draft's first round altogether, instead won the third overall selection.
(Don't expect for there to be a short price on the Mavs to win the NBA championship this summer: the Magic were a mere 9-2 to go all the way in the summer of 1994.)
In determining late-round draft choices, the NBA also does not do what the NFL does: if an NFL team suffers an early upset in the playoffs, the team in question gets to draft higher than any team that got further than they did in the postseason, regardless of team records; thus the 15-2 Lions got the 28th overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft instead of the last pick, which the Oklahoma City Thunder (their 68-14 regular-season record was the NBA's best in 2024-25) will get regardless of how far they advance in the playoffs (the Lions played a tougher schedule than the Chiefs, who were also 15-2).
Of course the NFL does not conduct a draft lottery — not only that, but there has never even been a proposal to create one in that league! (What are they waiting for?)
From the athletes themselves to the executives who run the teams, unscrupulousness has broken out all over: When Earl Monroe jump-shot the ball into his own basket in a game against Portland in 1977, causing the Knicks (for whom he played at the time) to not cover the spread, but they still won the game, only a few eyebrows were raised. If something like that happened now — and say, a 6-seed vs. a 5-seed in the playoffs was "on the line, in reverse" — the self-declared sheriffs like Phil Mushnick, whose enemies list is longer than the Staten Island telephone directory (Mushnick attended high school there) would be rounding up their proverbial posses.
Draft lotteries both create excitement, and uphold integrity. Therefore, they are a great asset; and Roger Goodell, who seems to be big fan of integrity, should understand this.
Leave a Comment