Nervous energy, phone withdrawal and a waiting period: Inside the 2022 NBA Draft Lottery drawing room
Fieldhouse Files was one of several media outlets invited into a sequestered ballroom where the drawing happened. Allow for me to take you inside the process.
CHICAGO — There were 1,001 different ping pong ball combinations and drawing one of 105 would have resulted in the Pacers securing a top-four pick in next month’s NBA Draft. Every single one of the 105 combinations, the fifth-best odds among 14 lottery teams, included a ‘3.’
For the fourth year in a row under the current format of the draft lottery, the three teams with the worst records all had the same chance of scoring the top pick with 140 combinations. The Thunder, in fourth had 125 combinations.
A ping pong ball was drawn 20 times — including a combination of four that was wiped away because the Houston Rockets were already slotted in third — and Pacers general manager Chad Buchanan was eagerly waiting to hear a ‘3’ called.
It happened just once among the 20 numbers; it was the final number drawn for the third overall pick. That pick went to Houston.
Going into the night, the Pacers had a 42.1% chance of leaping into the top four and a 19.6% chance of selecting sixth.
They will select sixth.
“You’re always hopeful,” Buchanan said of how he felt beforehand. “You don’t want to be in that room very often, but you’re hopeful when you are. Going into it, I feel like there’s a certain level of players in this draft that we like and we still feel very good about where we ended up.”
Inside Room W192 in the McCormack Place Convention Center in Chicago, about 40 individuals were sequestered inside the drawing room — where the actually lottery goes down. What you see on TV is a formality. It’s entertainment and for show.
