To no surprise, Cavs stand pat in 2022 NBA Draft Lottery and get #14 pick

The Cleveland Cavaliers have had a lot of lottery luck over the past 20 years or so. In 2002, they won the draft lottery and selected LeBron James as the first overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft. Because of LeBron James, the Cavs did not select in the lottery again until 2011 where they were big winners once again. That year the Cavs ended up with the first overall pick and the fourth overall pick. Cleveland would use those two picks on Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson.

In 2012 the Cavs surprised most when they selected Dion Waiters with the third overall pick, from there. Waiters and Irving did not get along, so the pick fizzled out eventually. In 2013 the lowly Cavaliers again won the first overall pick, and shocked the world by selecting Anthony Bennett. Bennett was eventually traded the following year.

Finally, in 2014 with a 1.7% chance of getting the first overall pick, the Cavs lucked out again, and somehow ended up with the first pick. They would go on to select Andrew Wiggins, who was then traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves as part of a package for Kevin Love. In an odd way, all of the Cavaliers luck eventually turned into an NBA Championship in 2016.

Following the second departure of LeBron James to the Los Angeles Lakers, the Cavs lottery luck seemed to dry out. The first lottery selection since 2014 landed the Cavaliers Collin Sexton with the 8th overall pick in the 2018 draft. In the following year, the Cavs had the second-best odds to win the lottery, but ended up with the fifth pick, which turned into Darius Garland. Again in 2020, with the second-best odds to win the lottery, they fell to the fifth pick, which ended up being Isaac Okoro. However, in 2021 the Cavs got lucky again.

Before the lottery then, the Cavaliers had an 11.5% chance to select first overall. However, their most likely scenario was drafting fifth or sixth. Lady Luck reared her head again last summer as the Cavs surged into the top-three, ending with the third overall pick in the 2021 draft. We all know that ended up being Evan Mobley, who should have won the latest Rookie of the Year award, according to Kevin Love.

The Cavaliers had a fantastic 2021-2022 season, finishing one game shy of making the playoffs. They lost to the Atlanta Hawks in the final Play-In game. What made the loss even worse at first was the fact that the Cavaliers sent this year’s first-round pick to the Indiana Pacers as part of a package in a trade for Caris LeVert.

However, as one would have thought, Cavaliers President of Basketball Operations Koby Altman wisely put a lottery protection on the traded pick, for that first-rounder, so in the end, losing to the Hawks in the play-in tourney actually could help the Cavaliers in 2022.

Unfortunately, the Cavaliers did not have Lady Luck on their side on Thursday night. Cleveland will be selecting 14th overall, the last pick in the lottery, but that was no surprise. Cleveland had a 97.6 percent chance of getting the 14th pick.

With that being said, there are a number of players who can help the team next year, that will be available at that spot.

Guys like Jaden Hardy, Ochai Agbaji, and Tari Eason are all players that can have an impact next season.

So even though the Cavs didn’t get lucky again, the 14th pick still gives Altman and the front office an opportunity to improve the team significantly, in the event they choose to use that pick.