How the Lottery Works
The NBA Draft lottery is a drawing system designed to give struggling teams a better chance at getting the top draft picks. Fourteen balls numbered 1 through 14 are placed in a machine. Four balls are randomly drawn to create a four-digit combination. Whichever team holds that combination wins that draft pick. This process is repeated until the first 14 picks are assigned.
Weighted Odds System
Teams with worse regular season records receive more ball combinations and therefore better odds at winning higher picks. The worst team gets the most combinations (around 140 out of 1,000 possible combinations), while better teams get fewer combinations. This encourages competitive balance by giving losing teams a chance to improve through the draft. However, no team is guaranteed the number one pick based on record alone.
Picks After the Lottery
After the first 14 picks are decided by lottery, the remaining picks are determined by reverse order of regular season records. This means the team that finished in 15th place in lottery odds gets pick 15, the 16th place team gets pick 16, and so on. Teams that made the playoffs get their picks in reverse order of their playoff seeding at the end.
Draft Order Announcement
The NBA Draft lottery drawing ceremony is held publicly and televised before the draft. An independent accounting firm oversees the process to ensure fairness and transparency. The event typically happens in May, and the results are announced on live television so fans can see the drawing happen in real time.
Recent Changes
In 2019, the NBA adjusted the lottery rules so that the odds were flattened among the three worst teams. This change meant that the worst, second-worst, and third-worst teams would have nearly equal chances at the top pick, rather than giving the worst team significantly better odds. This rule change was made to discourage teams from deliberately losing games. 
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