The Powerball lottery jackpot grew to a world record $1.9 billion on Monday. Coincidentally, four of the five NBA teams with the top picks in the June draft faced each other.
The Magic and top pick Paolo Banchero were matched up against the Rockets and No. 3 pick Jabari Smith. The Thunder, who won’t have No. 2 pick Chet Holmgren available until next season, played against the Pistons and No. 5 pick Jaden Ivey.
The Kings, who drafted Keegan Murray at No. 4, had a much different test facing the defending champion but struggling Warriors.
A few of those teams have habitually participated in the lottery. Orlando has finished 11th or worse in the Eastern Conference in eight of the past 10 seasons. Detroit hasn’t won a playoff game since 2008. Sacramento, of course, has gone 16 seasons without a postseason visit.
Oklahoma City got eliminated in the first round four straight years before going into a full rebuild. The Thunder have seemingly have stockpiled more draft picks than wins since the 2020/21 season. Houston has taken a similar approach.
How have these teams looked so far this season? Let’s break it down:
- Magic — Banchero has lived up to his status, averaging 22.9 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists. It hasn’t translated into victories, as Orlando headed into Monday’s game with a 2-8 record.
- Rockets — Last year’s No. 2 pick, Jalen Green, is averaging 19.5 points while Smith has posted averages of 10.8 points and 6.1 rebounds. They had only one win in their first 10 outings.
- Thunder — With Shai Gilgeous-Alexander playing at an All-Star level (30.5 points, 5.9 assists), they headed into Detroit with a 4-5 record. Last year’s lottery selection, Josh Giddey, ranks second on the club in scoring (13.5).
- Kings — Murray is averaging 13.9 points but, not surprisingly, De’Aaron Fox leads the team in scoring (26.3) and assists (4.6). Sacramento lost its first four games but has rebounded to win three of its last four outings.
- Pistons — Ivey has scored in double digits in all but one game while averaging 15 points. Last year’s top pick, Cade Cunningham, is averaging 21.4 points and 6.3 assists. Yet wins have been scarce, as they entered the week with a 2-8 record.
That brings us to today’s question: Among the five teams with the highest lottery picks in the June draft — the Magic, Thunder, Rockets, Kings and Pistons — which franchise has the brightest future and is closest to becoming a perennial playoff team?
Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.
Fully rebuild takes too many years
Thunder will be the first team to make playoffs
Rockets and Kings GMs are not good on basketball
My Rankings for future
Thunder
Pistons
Magic
Kings
Lakers
Rockets
“The Powerball lottery jackpot grew to a world record $1.9 billion on Monday. Coincidentally, four of the five NBA teams with the top picks in the June draft faced each other.”
Um… Ok, oh.
Feels like what I’d write in middle school because they make you have a catchy opening. But keep it up writer guy, I appreciate the content.
Your definitely getting deleted for that comment. :) No trash-talking the authors here. Thin skin these guys…
ORL is the one who looks the best for the future by a country mile!
SAC is the best now & have a playoff team for sure, now they have to get there!
HOU looks pretty good with Green, Sengun, Garuba & KMJ, pretty promising.
OKC is very unsettled as SGA & Giddey are very good… but missing Chet all season means we don’t know what have they got as yet!
DET is probably the one that looks worst for the future & present, having Bogdanovic is just not good at all for them, most of their young players seem pretty limited in their potential, just not good enough!
Your take on the Pistons couldn’t be farther from the truth any seem to be the only one who has it. Cade, Ivey, Bey, Duren, Stew with Bogdanovic opening the floor, they will be making some noise within 2 years. Add another lottery pick this year, watch out
To answer the question in proper it’s the Thunder once they get the right coach in place. They are right there now and don’t know it like I do.
They are far to caught up in the A.I. process of it all which is resulting in the players not knowing exactly what they should be doing on a regular basis even more so than the number of teams having this same problem.
The Rockets are showing signs of a clue. If they would stop drafting guys whom can run fast in a straight line and either hop around all over the place or dunk only and get some guys in whom can really play basketball to go with the young hoppies they are in good shape to come around soon.