The NBA draft lottery will be held Tuesday night in Chicago, where 14 teams will have a chance to win the No. 1 pick for the June 22 draft.
The lottery involves 14 ping-pong balls going into a machine, and the first four balls that come out will be matched to predetermined combinations assigned to each team.
Results will be aired on ESPN, though the lottery itself takes place about an hour before in a secure room. Each team will have a representative in the room, and league officials, lottery observers and some reporters will also be present — but none will be allowed to leave the room or communicate with anyone until the results are shown on television.
The lottery goes back to 1985. In the first five years, the lottery teams -- seven in 1985 through 1988, nine in 1989 — all had an equal chance of winning.
Odds began being weighted in 1990. In those 33 years, the team with the best odds of winning prevailed only 11 times, or 33.3%. But the team holding (or tied for) the best odds entering the lottery won the No. 1 pick seven times in the last eight years.
- AP
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