In a victory of sorts, the Sacramento Kings were awarded the sixth pick of the upcoming NBA Draft.
Landing sixth was almost a surprise since the Kings have fallen from their pre-lottery draft position in five of the last six seasons. Sacramento hasn’t moved up in the lottery since winning the first overall selection while slotted sixth in 1989. The Kings had an 11.11 percent chance of snagging the top pick that year and used it to select Pervis Ellison.
Entering tonight’s Draft Lottery in New York, the Kings held a 43.9 percent chance of staying in their sixth position. There was a 30.5 percent chance they’d drop to seventh and an 8.1 percent chance of jumping up to third. Sacramento’s probability of winning the top selection was 6.3 percent.
The Kings’ first round pick this year was top 10 protected. If the Kings had dropped to 11th or worse, the pick would have been shipped to the Chicago Bulls via the Cleveland Cavaliers as part of the 2012 J.J. Hickson-Omri Casspi trade. Sacramento could fall only three slots at most in the Draft Lottery so the rights to the pick were safe.
Vlade Divac represented the Kings at the Draft Lottery. His reaction was neither angry or happy following the news.
The Minnesota Timberwolves won the first pick after coming into the Draft Lottery as favorites. The full lottery draft order is below.
1) Timberwolves
2) Lakers (jumped 2 spots)
3) 76ers
4) Knicks (fell 2 spots)
5) Magic
6) Kings
7) Nuggets
8) Pistons
9) Hornets
10) Heat
11) Pacers
12) Jazz
13) Suns
14) Thunder
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