NBA Draft Lottery results and where OKC Thunder picks

The NBA Draft Lottery occurred Thursday night with the Wolves garnering the top draft pick. The OKC Thunder will get the Nuggets pick.

At the end of the seeding games, the OKC Thunder were involved in a tie-break situation with the Houston Rockets and Utah Jazz since all three teams finished with identical 48-24 records. OKC won the tiebreaker. That doesn’t affect the first-round pick for the Thunder since their pick which is 21st will be conveyed to the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Thunder does have a first-round pick (at 25) that comes courtesy of the Jerami Grant trade to the Denver Nuggets.

As for the NBA Draft Lottery, the team from the Mecca once again didn’t benefit from tanking as the New York Knicks fell to eighth. Yet another year where they hoped to garner the top pick thwarted.

Depending on how you look at the draft the teams who got the top three to five picks will reap the rewards as that section of the draft has some talent. That said, this draft is considered weak although there will be some gems in the latter portion that can be developed.

Hey, there are always Fred VanVleet and Luguentz Dort type players available, it’s how solid your scouting staff is on whether you can pluck those gems out of the mix.

The NBA official site has a specialized draft section that offers insights on how the lottery works as well as videos taken from the lottery event.

2020 NBA Draft Lottery results

Here’s how the lottery pans out for the 14 teams in that section:

1. Timberwolves
2. Warriors
3. Hornets (will Michael Jordan land LaVar Ball’s son?)
4. Bulls
5. Cavaliers
6. Hawks
7. Pistons
8. Knicks
9. Wizards
10. Suns
11. Spurs
12. Kings
13. Pelicans
14. Celtics (conveyed from Grizzlies trade)

The remainder of the first-round order is tied to where the teams finished the season in reverse order from one to 16 (hence the Bucks pick last):

15. Magic
16. Trail Blazers
17. Timberwolves (pick conveyed from Nets)
18. Mavericks
19. Nets (pick conveyed from 76ers)
20. Heat
21. 76ers (conveyed from OKC Thunder)
22. Nuggets (conveyed from Rockets)
23. Jazz
24. Bucks (conveyed from Pacers)
25. OKC Thunder  (from Denver)
26. Celtics
27. Knicks (conveyed from LA Clippers)
28. Lakers
29. Raptors
30. Celtics (conveyed from Bucks)

The OKC Thunder will also pick in the second round at number 53. Typically, the NBA Draft would have already occurred months ago. Instead, because of the coronavirus pandemic, the draft will occur on October 16th and the window will be tightly connected to the end of the playoffs.

More from Thunder Draft

• OKC Thunder fans should keep tabs on the NBL Blitz showcase
• Alex Sarr steals the show at G-League showcase
• 3 OKC Thunder players who benefit from the 23 Draft class
• Winners and Losers from the 2023 NBA Draft
• OKC Thunder steal one of the best stories of the NBA Draft at pick 50

The path to finding prospects this season will take a very different route, once again because of the pandemic. No Draft Combine will happen which is a big loss. It’s during the Combine when teams get to see prospects in person — not just on the court but in person as well. And, for teams who value character and demeanor that’s equally important.

It’s hard to say if teams will be able to work out individuals. If they do it will be in settings where they are masked and safe distanced and definitely require some sort of testing prior to ensure prospect is negative for COVID-19.

Looking ahead, it’s next season where the draft becomes a big deal but we could see some movement this offseason as Sam Presti looks to move some vets potentially. We’ll have to wait for his post-season press conference. Last year he was all in on the reposition and replenish era.

The big questions facing the GM will be whether he wants to continue in that mode or if he’ll begin to build more aggressively toward the future with younger prospects.