The App is Back! Don’t forget to download the NBC Sports EDGE app to receive real-time player news, mobile alerts and track your favorite players. Plus, now you can check out articles and player cards. Get it here!
2021 NBA Draft Lottery Odds: Rockets, Pistons, Magic +550
The teams with the best odds to have the No. 1 overall pick are as follows in order of best to worst: Houston Rockets (+550), Detroit Pistons (+550), Orlando Magic (+550), Oklahoma City Thunder (+650) and the Cleveland Cavaliers (+650).
All five of those teams have a 45.1% chance or better of being in the top four draft spots. The Rockets, Pistons and Magic all have a 52.1% chance of the top four and a 14.0% chance of being No. 1. The Thunder and Cavs have a 11.5% chance of selecting No. 1.
The lottery will consist of 14 teams in order of best chances to worst for No. 1: Houston, Detroit, Orlando, Oklahoma City, Cleveland, Minnesota (if in top 3, pick goes to Golden State), Toronto, Chicago (outside the top 4 goes to Orlando), Sacramento, New Orleans, Charlotte, San Antonio, Indiana and Golden State.
The Pistons and Magic both have young point guards in Markelle Fultz and Killian Hayes, but compared to Cunningham, they are not worth building around. Orlando’s last No. 1 overall pick was Dwight Howard (2004) and for Detroit, Bob Lanier (1970).
The Cavaliers have Collin Sexton and Darius Garland at the guard position and a No. 1 pick would probably warrant one of the being traded. One of those two moving to the bench would make for an interesting Sixth Man of the Year conversation.
Cleveland has not drafted No. 1 overall since they selected Andrew Wiggins (2014), that also capped off three top picks in four drafts for the Cavs (2011, 13, 14).
For the Rockets and Thunder, their futures are now after terrible seasons, plus shipping James Harden, Chris Paul and more than a few others. The two teams combined for a 39-105 record as the two bottom teams in the West.
The Thunder have never owned the top pick in the draft, nor the Seattle Supersonics. For the Rockets, Yao Ming (2002) was the last No. 1 pick.
Oklahoma City just pulled off a trade for Kemba Walker, so don’t be surprised if he ends up being dealt on draft night, depending where the Thunder land in the lottery.
A deal that involved Kemba Walker plus a top 5 five draft pick and a likely future pick would be enticing for the No. 1 overall pick.
The Thunder own 11 first rounds pick up to 2024, including two this season (OKC, BOS) and three next year (OKC, PHX, LAC) and three the next two more drafts as well! Going from now to 2027, Oklahoma City has a total of 38 first and second round picks! They should start investing in a second basketball team at this rate.
Since this is just the lottery odds and a bet on the Thunder here would not win unless they landed the top pick, I will wait and look for future value there, such as a trade up or for OKC to select Cade Cunningham at No. 1, no matter where they are slotted.
I believe OKC believes they have the pieces to move up, select and build around Cunningham. He is slotted at -800 odds to go No. 1 overall in the upcoming NBA Draft. I think OKC’s move to acquire Walker was all in effort to move up in the draft and select Cunningham -- and I will stick to that theory.
Here is a complete list of each teams odds on PointsBet to draw the No. 1 spot in the lottery. The lottery starts at 8:30 PM ET. The NBA Draft is July 29.
[[ad:athena]]
PointsBet is our Official Sports Betting Partner, and we may receive compensation if you place a bet on PointsBet for the first time after clicking our links
