The Detroit Pistons already some quality young talent on their roster: Isaiah Steward and Saddiq Bey each made the All-Rookie team this year, their star Jerami Grant is just 26, and other players have shown potential such as Hamidou Diallo, Sekou Doumbouya, and Killian Hayes.
Tuesday night, the Pistons’ future got a whole lot brighter — they are about to add a potential franchise cornerstone playmaking guard in Cade Cunningham to that list.
The Pistons won the NBA Draft Lottery on Tuesday night and will draft No. 1.
Cunningham is the clear favorite to be taken first overall.
The Pistons had the worst record in the East this season (20-52) and were among the teams with a 14% chance of winning the lottery. The No. 2 pick went to Houston, which at 17-55 had the worst record in the NBA this season.
Cleveland and Toronto jumped up the board from lower odds to grab the No. 3 and 4 spots in the draft.
Here is how the NBA Draft Lottery shook out.
1. Detroit Pistons
2. Houston Rockets
3. Cleveland Cavaliers
4. Toronto Raptors
5. Orlando Magic
6. Oklahoma City Thunder
7. Golden State Warriors (via Minnesota)
8. Orlando Magic (via Chicago)
9. Sacramento Kings
10. New Orleans Pelicans
11. Charlotte Hornets
12. San Antonio Spurs
13. Indiana Pacers
14. Golden State Warriors
Some other notes from how the NBA Draft lottery broke down.
• Cunningham will only work out for the Pistons since they have the top pick, reports Adrain Wojnarowski of ESPN.
• The Warriors now have two lottery picks, their own (14) and Minnesota’s (7), that second one part of the D’Angelo Russell trade. The buzz around the league is that the Warriors will try to package those two picks — and maybe last year’s No. 2 pick James Wiseman — to bring back a veteran star who can help their aging core of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green win now.
• Houston retains its pick (it was top four protected, or it went to Oklahoma City), and with the No. 2 pick can select someone to go with young players such as Christian Wood and Jae’Sean Tate.
• The Timberwolves lost their lottery pick by not finishing in the top three (it goes to the Warriors). Minnesota will bank on its core — Karl-Anthony Towns, Russell, and last year’s top pick Anthony Edwards — to take a step forward this year.
• Chicago also fell out of the lottery this year, with their pick (No. 8) going to Orlando as part of the Nikola Vucevic deal.
• Jumping up to No. 4 is a big win for the Toronto Raptors, who are looking at a rebuild, no matter what happens with free agent Kyle Lowry this offseason. The Raptors will get to add a very good player to the mix.
• Most teams appear to have the same top four prospects on their draft boards. Cade Cunningham, the 6'8" point guard out of Oklahoma State, is the clear No. 1. After that, Evan Mobley (USC), Jalen Suggs (Gonzaga), and Jalen Green of the G-League Ignite are the next three. Spots five and six in this draft are expected to be Jonathan Kuminga (Ignite) or Davion Mitchell (Baylor) depending on who you ask.
After the lottery, the rest of the draft order shakes out like this:
15. Washington Wizards
16. Oklahoma City Thunder (from Boston)
17. Memphis Grizzlies
18. Oklahoma City Thunder (from Miami)
19. New York Knicks
20. Atlanta Hawks
21. New York Knicks (from Dallas)
22. Los Angeles Lakers
23. Houston Rockets (from Portland)
24. Houston Rockets (from Milwaukee)
25. LA Clippers
26. Denver Nuggets
27. Brooklyn Nets
28. Philadelphia 76ers
29. Phoenix Suns
30. Utah Jazz