The balls did NOT fall in favor of the Wizards for the No. 1 pick, or even a lottery surprise – the Dallas Mavericks won the NBA Draft lottery for the first time ever – overcoming just 1.8 percent odds, the fourth-lowest odds ever to win the lottery – and will select No. 1 overall in the 2025 NBA Draft (and likely select Duke’s Cooper Flagg).
The Wizards, meanwhile, will have the No. 6 overall pick, the lowest possible selection they could have.
Utah, Washington, and Charlotte all had equal odds of getting the No. 1 overall pick, and both of those teams also got a bit shafted; the Jazz got the No. 5 pick, the lowest they could get as the team with the actual worst record in the NBA, while Charlotte, who could’ve picked as low as seventh, ‘won’ the final spot in the lottery and will pick fourth.
San Antonio, who selected Victor Wembanyama No. 1 overall in 2023 and Stephon Castle No. 4 last year, will pick second in 2025, with the Philadelphia 76ers getting No. 3 – and meaning they keep their pick, which would’ve conveyed to Oklahoma City as part of the 2020 Al Horford trade had it been outside the Top 6.
Picks 7-14 will go in order of the regular-season standings of those teams, with that order being New Orleans, Brooklyn, Toronto, Houston, Portland, Chicago, Atlanta (via Sacramento from a 2022 trade), and San Antonio (via Atlanta, also from a 2022 trade).