NBA 2K League Draft Lottery: What Will Happen?
September 7, 2018
NBA 2K LEAGUE DRAFT LOTTERY: WHAT WILL HAPPEN?
The second NBA 2K League Draft Lottery will determine the order of selection for the first nine picks of the 2019 NBA 2K League Draft. The NBA 2K League Draft Lottery will be held on Friday, Sept. 7 at the National Basketball Association (NBA) office in New York City.
Fourteen ping-pong balls numbered 1 through 14 will be placed in a lottery machine. There are 1,001 possible combinations when four balls are drawn out of 14, without regard to their order of selection. Prior to the lottery, 1,000 of those 1,001 combinations will be assigned to the nine participating lottery teams. If drawn, the combination 11-12-13-14 is disregarded to preserve an even 1,000 combinations. The two teams with the worst records (in this year’s case Kings Guard Gaming and Warriors Gaming Squad) share the same chance of receiving the No. 1 overall draft pick and will be assigned the same number of combinations (185 each). Magic Gaming, the best team in the lottery at 8-6, will have 35 combinations out of 1,000.
The drawing process occurs in the following manner: All 14 balls are placed in the lottery machine and are mixed for 20 seconds; then the first ball is removed. The remaining balls are mixed in the lottery machine for another 10 seconds, and then second ball is drawn. There is a 10-second mix, and then the third ball is drawn. There is a 10-second mix, and then the fourth ball is drawn. The team that has been assigned any combination of the first four numbers drawn will receive the number one pick. The same process is repeated with the same ping-pong balls and lottery machine for the second pick and then again for the third pick.
If the same team comes up more than once, the result is discarded and another 4-ball combination is selected. Also, if the one unassigned combination is drawn, the result is discarded and the balls are drawn again. The length of time the balls are mixed is monitored by a timekeeper who faces away from the machine and signals the machine operator after the appropriate amount of time has elapsed.
The order of selection for the teams that were in the draft lottery but do not win one of the top three picks will be determined by inverse order of their regular-season record. Thus, Kings Guard Gaming can pick no lower than fourth and Warriors Gaming Squad can pick no lower than fifth.
The four expansion teams (affiliates of the Atlanta Hawks, Brooklyn Nets, Los Angeles Lakers, Minnesota Timberwolves) are ineligible to win the NBA 2K League Draft Lottery. The order of the 2019 NBA 2K League Draft will run as follows: 1) lottery teams, 2) expansion teams, and 3) playoff teams. While the 2019 NBA 2K League Draft will be a “fixed” draft, the four expansion teams will reverse order each round.
The teams that qualified to participate in the 2018 NBA 2K League Playoffs will select in inverse order of their finish in the playoffs. For instances where teams were eliminated in the same playoff round, draft order will be determined by the inverse order of the teams’ seeding in the playoffs.
The 2019 NBA 2K League Draft order is subject to change based on trades and additional player retainment.
More details on the 2019 NBA 2K League Draft will be announced at a later date.
2019 NBA 2K League Draft Order (FIRST ROUND)
- Lottery Team
- Lottery Team
- Lottery Team
- Lottery Team
- Lottery Team
- Lottery Team
- Lottery Team
- Lottery Team
- Lottery Team
- Expansion Team
- Expansion Team
- Expansion Team
- Expansion Team
- Wizards District Gaming
- Raptors Uprising GC
- Pistons GT
- Blazer5 Gaming
- Cavs Legion GC
- 76ers GC
- Heat Check Gaming
- Knicks Gaming
NBA 2K LEAGUE DRAFT LOTTERY CHANCES
(Out of 1,000)
The following are the nine teams in the NBA 2K League Draft Lottery. These teams did not qualify for the 2018 NBA 2K League Playoffs. Each team will be assigned a certain number of combinations out of 1,000. The third column below lists the number of combinations each team will have in the NBA 2K League Draft Lottery, and the percentage chances that each team will have of getting the first overall pick in the NBA 2K League Draft.
2019 NBA 2K League Draft Lottery Probabilities
Team Record Chances
Kings Guard Gaming 4-10 185 (18.5%)
Warriors Gaming Squad 4-10 185 (18.5%)
Jazz Gaming 5-9 160 (16%)
Pacers Gaming 5-9 135 (13.5%)
Mavs Gaming 6-8 110 (11%)
Bucks Gaming 6-8 85 (8.5%)
Grizz Gaming 6-8 60 (6%)
Celtics Crossover Gaming 7-7 45 (4.5%)
Magic Gaming 8-6 35 (3.5%)
NBA 2K LEAGUE EXPANSION DRAFT LOTTERY: WHAT WILL HAPPEN?
The NBA 2K League Expansion Draft Lottery will also be held on Friday, Sept. 7 at the NBA office in New York City to determine the draft order in the NBA 2K League Expansion Draft, which will be held on Monday, Sept. 24. The NBA 2K League Expansion Draft will begin the roster construction of the four expansion teams (affiliates of the Atlanta Hawks, Brooklyn Nets, Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves).
Four balls representing each of the expansion teams will be placed in a lottery machine and mixed for 20 seconds; then the first ball is removed. The first ball removed will be the fourth pick in the NBA 2K League Expansion Draft. The remaining balls are mixed in the lottery machine for another 10 seconds, and then second ball is drawn. The second ball represents the third overall pick in the expansion draft. There is a 10-second mix, and then the third ball is drawn. The third ball represents the second overall pick in the expansion draft. The last ball remaining will represent the first overall pick in the expansion draft. In the non-weighted expansion draft lottery, each of the four teams has an equal chance to receive the first overall pick. The expansion draft will consist of two rounds with each team selecting two players from the eligible player pool. The expansion draft will be a snake draft, so the pick order will reverse in the second round (i.e. 1,2,3,4,4,3,2,1).
