2022 NBA Draft Lottery primer and open thread

What: 2022 NBA Draft Lottery

When: 8:00pm EDT

Where: Chicago, IL

How to watch: ESPN

The Charlotte Hornets once again find themselves in the lottery after a blowout loss in the play-in tournament. They had traded a future first round pick to the Knicks in exchange for the 19th pick in last year’s draft (used to take Kai Jones), but that pick was protected if it landed in the top 16, so the Hornets still have it.

They enter tonight with the 13th pick, and that’s likely what they’ll have when the night is over. There are 1001 combinations of ping pong balls that can come out of the hopper. 10 of those are assigned to the Hornets.

Here are their odds of picking in each spot:

1st: 1.00%
2nd: 1.11%
3rd: 1.25%
4th: 1.43%

Top 4: 4.79%

13th: 92.88%
14th: 2.34%

So again, this event likely is of little to no consequence for the Hornets, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get irrationally optimistic for a few short minutes.

So talk about it and react to the lottery as it happens.

This is now an open thread!