Cavaliers win lottery odds tiebreaker with Phoenix Suns
By Dan Gilinsky
The Cleveland Cavaliers and Phoenix Suns took part in a 2019 NBA Draft lottery odds tiebreaker on Friday, and the Cavs reportedly came out on top.
The Cleveland Cavaliers and Phoenix Suns both ended the 2018-19 season with a record of 19-63, which resulting in them being tied for having the second-worst record in the NBA.
Now, as we’ve previously noted, the league’s new lottery rules which start in the 2019 NBA Draft reward the bottom three teams record-wise from the previous season with the best chance of winning the following draft’s lottery, which is a 14.0% chance at the number one pick (per Tankathon).
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In the years prior, the team with the worst record the previous season was rewarded with the best odds of winning the next draft’s lottery (which was a 25.0% chance, again per Tankathon).
So, why did this lottery tiebreaker matter then?
As we noted here at KJG yesterday, it was due to the worst-case scenarios being affected for both; the squad that finished second-worst for the previous year could draft sixth in their worst-case scenario, and the squad that finished third-worst for the previous year could draft as low as seventh (h/t Tankathon).
Ultimately, the Cleveland Cavaliers won this 2019 NBA Draft lottery odds tiebreaker over the Suns, according to Cavs owner Dan Gilbert (Cleveland would lose a tie breaker for their second first-round pick, via the Houston Rockets, though).
Hey @cavs fans, the lottery Gods have moved us over the big first hurdle as we just won the tie-breaker with Phoenix and are now officially slotted #2 for the NBA Lottery on May 14th, a mere 32 days from now. Let’s Go!
— Dan Gilbert (@cavsdan) April 12, 2019
According to Tankathon, the Cavs, who are now considered the second-worst finishing team from last season, as Gilbert noted, have a 27.8% chance of selecting fifth with their first pick (which is their highest chance), and have a 20.1% chance of selecting sixth with their first pick (which is their second-highest odds) in the 2019 NBA Draft.
On the flip side, Phoenix has a 26.0% chance of selecting sixth (their highest odds) and a 7.1% chance of selecting seventh with their first-round pick.
Nonetheless, as Sam Amico of Amico Hoops previously touched on, the Cleveland Cavaliers winning a lottery odds tiebreaker isn’t the biggest deal, though.
Amico noted how they won the tiebreaker in one of these lottery odds scenarios with the New Orleans Pelicans back in 2012 (then still the New Orleans Hornets), and yet New Orleans ultimately won the “No. 1 overall pick anyway,” and would then draft Anthony Davis.
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That being said, I’d rather the Cavs be on the winning side of this situation than not, and they were. This year’s draft lottery is on May 14, as the aforementioned Gilbert highlighted, by the way.