The 2023 NBA Draft Lottery, also known as the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes, are officially in the books. The San Antonio Spurs have officially won the lottery and the right to draft a generational talent at No. 1 overall. The Charlotte Hornets, Portland Trail Blazers, and Houston Rockets received the consolation prizes of the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 picks, respectively.
Now that the big event has passed, we can officially decide who won and who lost, not just in the results, but the overall implications. With that said, here are three winners and losers from the 2023 NBA Draft Lottery.
2023 NBA Draft Lottery Winners
San Antonio Spurs and Victor Wembanyama
A two-for-one special to start out, as the Spurs and Wembanyama seem like a match made in heaven. San Antonio's side of this equation is simple; they get a generational prospect to build their future around. The Spurs had their sights set on the top pick all season, and they got it after tying for the best odds at 14 percent. Additionally, they drafted a player by the name of Tim Duncan the last time they won the lottery back in 1997, and he turned out to be pretty good.
For Wembanyama, the Spurs may have been the best possible landing spot for his career. He gets to play for one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time in Gregg Popovich, who has also coached legendary big men like Duncan and David Robinson. Wembanyama also gets to follow in the footsteps of Tony Parker, arguably the greatest French basketball player ever. Finally, he won't have a ton of pressure to win right away, as the Spurs are still rebuilding. All things considered, San Antonio could be a dream home for the generational prospect.
Portland Trail Blazers
Portland was reportedly one number away from winning the top overall pick, which would have easily made them the biggest winners of the lottery by far. The Blazers landed at No. 3 instead, but that's still an improvement from their previous position at No. 5 and makes them big winners.
The San Antonio Spurs won the NBA Draft lottery and the right to select Victor Wembanyama with the ping pong ball combo 14, 5, 8, 2.
The Portland Trail Blazers held the combination 14, 5, 8, 3. They missed by just one number on the final ball.— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) May 17, 2023
By landing the No. 3 pick, Portland suddenly has a ton of potential options. If the Blazers keep it, they can add either Scoot Henderson or Brandon Miller to complement Damian Lillard. All of a sudden, this team could become much more intriguing in the Western Conference playoff race.
Alternatively, the Blazers could opt for a trade. They could trade the pick to bring in a veteran star for one last push with Lillard. What might be more enticing though is trading the 33-year-old to a new team for even more picks. In that scenario, they would have an excellent core of Anfernee Simons, Shaedon Sharpe, Henderson/Miller and anyone else they draft with the extra picks.
No matter what they do, the Blazers will be a very interesting team to watch in the near future.
Dallas Mavericks
The end of the season was nothing short of a disaster for the Dallas Mavericks. After trading for Kyrie Irving in February, the Mavs fell from a team firmly in the playoff picture to out of the Play-In Tournament entirely. Following a Western Conference Finals appearance last season, the Mavericks may have been the most-disappointing team in the NBA this season.
However, their situation could've been much worse if the balls rolled differently on Tuesday night. Dallas' first-round pick belonged to the New York Knicks thanks to the Kristaps Porzingis trade, but it had a top-1o protection on it. That's why the Mavericks rested most of their key players in the final games of the season, because their title hopes were dead and getting into the Play-In Tournament would only give their pick to the Knicks.
If one of the teams behind the Mavericks would've moved up, it would've caused their picks to go to the Knicks anyways. Fortunately for the Mavericks, that didn't happen and the pick remained theirs. This doesn't erase Dallas' horrible end of the season, but at least there's a silver lining.
2023 NBA Draft Lottery Losers
Detroit Pistons and Houston Rockets
A few years ago, the NBA changed the lottery system so that the top three teams in the lottery would share the best odds at 14 percent each. This year, those three teams were Detroit, Houston, and San Antonio. While the Spurs hit the jackpot, the Rockets and Pistons walked away empty handed.
Houston at least “won” the No. 4 pick, but that's still a major loss. By moving down to No. 4, the Rockets won't even get Henderson or Miller, let alone Wembanyama. Detroit got it even worse, falling all the way down to No. 5 after winning a league-low 17 games. The Pistons are a prime example of teams hurt by the recent lottery changes, as under the past system, they would've had a 25% chance to pick No. 1 overall.
As two of the worst teams in the league this season, both Houston and Detroit could've greatly benefitted from Victor Wembanyama. Now, they won't even get one of the top three players in the draft, a massive blow to their rebuilds.
Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls situation is basically the exact opposite of Dallas', which we discussed above. The Bulls owed their pick to the Orlando Magic as a result of the Nikola Vucevic trade. However, the pick was top-four protected, so the Bulls could've kept it if they moved up.
Unfortunately for Chicago, that didn't happen. The Bulls' pick remained at No. 11, and thus transferred to the Magic officially.
Chicago only had a 1.8 percent chance to win the lottery, so this outcome wasn't surprising. However, for a team without much direction right now, missing out on that miracle still hurts.
Teams lower in the lottery
For such a massive draft lottery featuring a generational talent, there wasn't a lot of shakeup. The only changes occurred within the top five, so picks No. 6 through No. 14 remained exactly the same.
For teams towards the end of the lottery like the Oklahoma City Thunder in New Orleans Pelicans, missing out isn't a huge deal because their chances were minimal and they already have bright futures. For teams in the middle, though, missing out on a top prospect is a big blow. The team most hurt by this is probably the Washington Wizards, who don't already have a young star to build around. However, other teams to not move up also lost on Tuesday night.
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