Indiana Pacers draft lottery: Team wins tiebreaker against Washington

The Indiana Pacers logo is seen on the a player’s shorts during an NBA basketball game against the Milwaukee Bucks Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022, in Milwaukee. …

The Indiana Pacers logo is seen on the a player’s shorts during an NBA basketball game against the Milwaukee Bucks Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Aaron Gash)

by: Matt Adams

Posted: Apr 19, 2023 / 09:41 AM EDT

Updated: Apr 19, 2023 / 09:41 AM EDT

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Pacers slightly improved their chances in the NBA Draft Lottery.

The Pacers, who tied with the Washington Wizards for the seventh-worst record in the league at 35-47, won the tiebreaking coin toss.

It means the Pacers will have the seventh-best odds in next month’s draft lottery. The team has a 6.8% chance of getting the top selection and a 29.4% chance of getting a top-four pick.

Washington isn’t much far off. The Wizards are eighth in the draft lottery and will have a 6.7% chance of getting the top pick and a 28.9% chance of getting a top-four selection.

In terms of odds, the Pacers are most likely to pick eighth (35.6% chance) in the draft, with seventh (19.7% chance) and ninth (13.8% chance) being their next-highest probabilities, according to Tankathon.com.

The Pacers have a total of five selections in the upcoming draft. Indiana is locked in at 26^th and 29^th in the first round via trades with Cleveland and Boston, respectively. The 26^th position was decided by a coin flip involving Memphis and Cleveland, who finished the regular season with the same record of 51-31. Memphis won that tiebreaker, meaning the Pacers will pick 26^th instead of 25^th.

A second-round pick acquired in a trade with Cleveland will be the 55^th selection.

Two picks depend on the results of the draft lottery, including the team’s first selection. It will fall either between 1 and 4 or 7 and 11.

One of the team’s second-round picks could be 32^nd overall or 50^th overall, depending on draft lottery results for the San Antonio Spurs and the Houston Rockets. If the Spurs end up with a better draft position than Houston, Indiana gets the 32^nd pick. If Houston gets a better draft position than San Antonio, the Pacers get the 50^th pick instead.

The NBA Draft Lottery, set for May 16, will determine the first four picks of the draft. The remaining lottery teams will then be slotted in positions 5 through 14 in inverse order of their records.

Here’s a look at the final NBA Draft Lottery order and odds of getting the first pick: