The New Orleans Pelicans can still move in the NBA lottery.
The New Orleans Pelicans were hoping to be talking playoffs instead of NBA Draft Lottery, but here we are.
After a poor showing in the bubble, the Pelicans will leave Orlando with a lottery ticket in hand, not ideal, but at least it is the one good thing that comes from losing.
The Pelicans can’t really help or hurt their draft position by winning, as the standings from March 11 will be used to determine the order for the non-playoff teams.
This wasn’t necessarily the fairest way to do this, as it doesn’t take into account what teams did in those eight games.
The Wizards have actually dropped below the Hornets in the standings, but it won’t matter because the non-bubble teams were already locked in.
New Orleans is in a similar position, as they were ahead of both the Suns and Spurs, who will still get better lottery odds if they don’t make the playoffs, even though they will finish with a better overall record.
The Pelicans’ own game won’t affect their odds, but some of the other games might.
The New Orleans Pelicans could be affected by the 8th seed.
Since the lottery standings will ultimately be decided by teams’ records on March 11, the New Orleans Pelicans could get more a more favorable position depending on who makes the playoffs.
The standings on March 11 went Portland, New Orleans, Sacramento, San Antonio and Phoenix.
If the Suns or Spurs don’t make the playoffs, they will still have better lottery odds than the Pelicans based on the March 11 standings.
Ideally, the Pelicans would like both Portland and Memphis to lose on Thursday and for Phoenix and San Antonio to win.
In this scenario, the Pelicans would drop to 12th in the Western Conference and have a tie-breaker with the Kings. If Portland and Memphis make the play-in game, the Pelicans would be 10th overall in the conference.
The difference is actually pretty huge, as the Pelicans would have twice the chance to jump into the top-four if both Phoenix and San Antonio make the play-in game.
It’s a lot to sort out, but the Pelicans can still move up or down depending on what happens Thursday.