So, you're telling me there's a chance? The Bulls have a less than 2 percent chance of obtaining the No. 1 pick in this summer's NBA draft. But they've tackled the odds before.
Flashback to the 2008 NBA draft, the Bulls are coming off a 33-49 season and need to improve the roster. Unfortunately, they had the ninth-best draft lottery odds, giving them a 1.7 percent chance of landing the first pick.
Yet, the Bulls were fortuitously gifted the No. 1 pick, despite having just 17 ping-pong balls in the pool. They took Derrick Rose – the athletic, shifty point guard out of Memphis – and the rest is history.
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This offseason, the Bulls find themselves in a similar predicament. They're coming off an underwhelming season that saw them finish 40-42 with the 10th-best record in the Eastern Conference.
With the help of 39 points from Zach LaVine and 23 points from DeMar DeRozan, the Bulls were able to advance through their first play-in game against the Toronto Raptors. But against the Miami Heat, over the subsequent game for the 8th seed in the playoffs, they lost, effectively ending their season.
The Bulls have the 11th-best odds to secure the No. 1 pick heading into the upcoming NBA draft in the summer. Similar to 2008, their odds are set at 1.8 percent. Can the Bulls cash in on lottery luck and secure a pick they can use in the draft?
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The Bulls' pick in the upcoming draft was traded to the Orlando Magic as part of the trade for Nikola Vučević. However, should it land in the top-4 picks, the Bulls would retain the asset they originally traded away.
According to Tankathon, the Bulls have an 8.5 percent chance of their pick landing in the top-4. If you add up the sum of each chance they have at each pick in the top-4, it results in 8.5 percent. The highest odds they possess on a singular pick in the top-4 is 2.5 percent for the No. 4 selection.
Should the Bulls magically acquire the first overall pick, they would have free rein at selecting Victor Wenbenyama – the 7-foot-2 French professional widely considered a generational talent.
Any pick in the top-4 would help the Bulls significantly improve their roster, with the added bonus of having a player on a rookie deal. The Bulls are strapped for cap space this summer, making a blue-chip, first-round player on a rookie deal ideal for their offseason needs.