Kevin Pritchard, Tyrese Haliburton to represent Pacers at 2023 Draft Lottery
There is a representative on stage and in the actual drawing room.
The drawing for the NBA Draft Lottery will be held Tuesday evening inside a secured room at the McCormick Convention Center in downtown Chicago. It’s the night basketball fans worldwide will be watching closely.
Who will get the number one pick and be able to draft Victor Wembanyama?
Before the Nuggets and Lakers tip-off the Western Conference Finals on ESPN, the results of the lottery will air at 8:00 p.m. ET.
Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard will serve as the team representative in the drawing room.
And All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton will be the on-stage representative.
Three other players will represent their organization on stage: Mark Williams (Charlotte), Dalen Terry (Chicago) and Collin Sexton (Utah).
Haliburton, 23, is now the face of the franchise and he’s used to delivering what the team needs. Winning the lottery would be the ultimate assist; the Pacers have never drafted first overall.
The Pacers front office involved Haliburton in free-agent conversations last offseason and they’ll continue to seek his input. “Ty knows his stuff, in terms of players,” Pritchard said last month. “He studies it. There’s not many major decisions that I’ll be looking at that he won’t be a part of.”
General manager Chad Buchanan was in the drawing room while assistant general manager Kelly Krauskopf was on stage last year when they landed the sixth overall pick and then drafted Bennedict Mathurin.
The Pacers finished the season in a tie for the seventh and then won the tiebreaker over the Washington Wizards. Therefore, they have a 6.8% chance of landing the top pick.
They could select anywhere from 1-4 or 7-11 in the upcoming draft, which will be held on Thursday, June 22 in Brooklyn.
They have a 35.61% chance of being slotted in eighth.
The Pacers will also be watching the results of the Houston Rockets closely. They will be rooting for the San Antonio Spurs to draft ahead of the Rockets because then the Rockets’ second-round pick will be pick No. 32 — and belong to the Pacers from a previous trade agreement.
However, if the Rockets are on the clock before the Spurs, then the Pacers receive pick 50 (via Miami) instead.
They will have five picks in all: TBD, 26, 29, TBD and 55.
I will be in Chicago to provide you with full coverage on the lottery and how the results impact the Pacers.
Last year, I had the special privilege of being invited inside the actual drawing room — no iPhones, no Apple Watches, no tech — to see how it all went down with a small group of reporters, team representatives and league officials.
