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The 2022 NBA Draft will be held on Thursday, June 23rd. The NBA determines its draft order based on a lottery system. The lottery is used to determine the first 14 picks in the draft. The first four picks will be determined by a drawing, with picks five through 14 being decided by inverting the 2022 records for the remaining teams giving the worst team remaining the fifth pick. The 2022 NBA draft lottery will be held on May 17th in Chicago, Illinois.
2022 NBA Draft odds: Who has best odds to win first pick?
Houston Rockets, Orlando Magic, Detroit Pistons (14.0%)
The Rockets' season was almost over before it could even get going. They were 1-16 through their first 17 games and had another losing streak of 12 games. Houston had nine wins before January first and only 11 wins after. The saddest part is that 20 wins are an improvement on how last season went when they totaled 17 victories. These have been their two worst seasons since the 1982-1983 season. The Rockets last won the NBA draft lottery in 2002 and drafted center Yao Ming with the pick.
Orlando never won more than two games in a row this season and had brutal stretches. Their largest losing streak was ten games in a row, but they also had two cold spells losing seven games on separate occasions. The Magic only won 22 games this season, but they did at least beat their 21-win total from last season. This is the seventh time in the last 10 seasons that they have finished fifth in the Southeast Division. Orlando last won the NBA Draft Lottery in 2004 and selected center Dwight Howard.
The Pistons are no stranger to the NBA draft lottery as they won it in 2021. They selected guard Cade Cunningham with the first overall pick. He ended up playing in 64 games his rookie year and averaged 17.4 points and 5.6 assists per game. From November 19th to the end of 2021, Detroit went 1-18 in 19 games. They could be the first team since 2013/2014 to win the draft lottery in back-to-back seasons.