New Orleans Pelicans: How the Playoffs Could Affect the NBA Draft Lottery

The NBA announced the dates for the Draft Lottery and the 2020 NBA Draft, so we took a look at where the New Orleans Pelicans stand.

It’s been quite a few months for the New Orleans Pelicans.

Like all of us, they’ve been waiting to see if the season could be finished, with rumors flying that had them in an out of the re-start every few minutes.

The NBA made it official, voting 29-1 to adopt the 22-team format laid out by Adam Silver.

Each team will play eight regular season games, then a possible three-game series to determine the 8th and final seed.

It won’t be easy, but the Pelicans have a shot, which is all they really wanted.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the NBA has also decided on dates for the NBA Draft Lottery and the 2020 NBA Draft:

We have to assume that the regular season will be over by August 25th and that the lottery odds will shift depending on who makes it.

The New Orleans Pelicans will drop in the 2020 NBA Draft if they make the playoffs.

Currently the Pelicans are tied with the Kings for the 12th spot in the lottery. The Pels have just a 1.2 percent chance at the number one pick, 1.3 percent chance at number two and 1.5 and 1.7 percent for three or four.

The Pelicans have a 92 percent chance at the number 13 pick and a 2.3 percent chance at number 14, so obviously it’s not likely that they jump into the top-four.

This could all change if the Pelicans make the playoffs.

If the Pels were able to overtake the Grizzlies, either in the eight game finale or in a three-game playoff, then they would likely fall back to the 17th pick in the NBA draft. More importantly, they’d have no chance, no matter how small, to jump into the top of the draft as they did in 2019.

Ultimately it may not matter, as the difference in talent between the 13th and 17th pick is negligible in this draft, though it may stop the Pelicans from getting a wing like Devin Vassell, Aaron Nesmith or Saddiq Bey.

Draft positioning won’t be on the minds of the players when they finally take the court in Orlando, but these games will have a big effect on the 2020 NBA Draft, which is shaping up to be a wild one.