The New York Knicks were one of the several teams who left lottery night disappointed.

James Dolan's team, after finishing with the worst record in the league last season, had a 14.3 percent chance to win the No. 1 pick, tied for highest with the Phoenix Suns and Cleveland Cavaliers. New York ultimately fell victim to the perils of lottery reform, though, ending up with the third overall pick of the draft by the time the ping pong balls were finished bouncing.

Obviously, the Knicks wanted the opportunity to pair Zion Williamson with double-max cap space, in a dream world entering next season with Williamson, Kevin Durant, and Kyrie Irving playing at Madison Square Garden. It didn't work out, but that hardly means New York will be left without a blue-chip prospect to team with whatever star free agents the it brings in this summer.

Despite the widespread belief that this is a three-player class, though, the Knicks are leaving nothing to chance during the pre-draft process. As team president Steve Mills told Marc Berman of the New York Post, New York has met with tens of players this week at the pre-draft combine in Chicago.

“It’s been a good week for us,” Mills said.. “As a group, we have a lot of guys here meeting the young players. We probably have interviewed 30 different guys over the course of time here. So it’s been a good productive week for us.”

The Knicks are likely to select Duke swingman R.J. Barrett, who was considered the consensus top prospect in the 2019 draft before the 2018-19 season. Williamson will go first to the New Orleans Pelicans, and reports surfaced earlier this week that the Memphis Grizzlies, picking second, will take Murray State point guard Ja Morant.