After years of being one of the worst teams in the league but never grabbing the first overall pick in the draft, the Philadelphia 76ers finally have a chance to do just that. The NBA will hold its annual draft lottery on Tuesday, which will decide the order in which the teams get to draft the top prospects for the 2016-17 season.
“It's a big day on Tuesday,” new president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo said, according to Brian Mahoney of The Associated Press.
“We're going to know where we are and no matter how it comes out, we're at least going to know where we stand and what we have to play with with respect to building this team.”
While the Lakers and Celtics have the next best odds of receiving the top pick, the Sixers are in an especially unique situation.
Normally, the team with the worst record has a 25% to win the lottery. But for the 76ers, their chances are actually even higher due to a trade they made with the Kings that would swap the Sixers' pick with the Kings' if the Kings' pick ends up being higher than the Sixers'. There is a 1.9% chance this happens, which means Philadelphia has a 26.9% chance at winning the lottery.
For Sixers' CEO Scott O’Neill, the opportunity comes with somewhat mixed feelings.
”The actual day I'll be nauseous. But I can't wait,” 76ers CEO Scott O'Neil said.
Whether the Sixers actually win the lottery or not, they have a real opportunity to bring their franchise back to what it used to be. Rather than the less-than-mediocre teams we’ve grown so accustomed to the passed few years. For their sake (and possibly the sake of the entire NBA), let’s hope they don’t screw it up.
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