The order for the 2024 NBA Draft is official following the lottery. The Portland Trail Blazers got two lottery picks, #7 and #14.
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The Atlanta Hawks had a three percent chance of landing the first overall pick. Since the draft lottery began in 1985, only four teams have had lower odds and won the first pick. This is the fourth time the Hawks have won the No. 1 overall pick, but the first time they’ve won it in the draft era.
Percentage-wise, the Trail Blazers were unlucky with the draft lottery results. Portland had the following odds to enter the lottery: according to Tankathon:
The Portland Trail Blazers and Charlotte Hornets are tied for the third-worst record in the league at 21-61. However, the The Blazers lost the coin flip, meaning the Hornets had a 13.3 percent chance of being the first pick while Portland had a 13.2 percent chance. Significance wasn’t really a question of probability. Charlotte and Portland fell out of the top four, meaning the Hornets moved ahead to pick six.
With the Hornets now selecting at six and the Detroit Pistons at five, the Blazers could find themselves at the end of a race for forwards. Detroit and Charlotte currently have a roster similar to Portland’s. All three teams were in the bottom ten in the league last season in three-point percentage, and all have similar strengths and weaknesses from a positional standpoint.
The Pistons will likely rely around their point guard and core combination of Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren. At the same time, the Hornets have something similar brewing between LaMelo Ball and Mark Williams. Cunningham and Ball are both All-Star level point guards, and Duren and Williams took a giant step last season to prove they are young starting centers worthy of building around.
Even the Rockets at pick No. 3 and the Spurs at picks No. 4 and No. 8 have secured their central position between Alperen Sengun and Victor Wembanyama. If the Atlanta Hawks and Washington Wizards don’t select two-time national champion Donovan Clingan among the top two picks, then, barring a trade, he could fall as high as No. 9 to the Memphis Grizzlies. Interestingly, no other team needs a center until then.
Portland has its own combination of point guard and center, which showed promise towards the end of the season with Scoot Henderson and Deandre Ayton.
Ayton had a very eventful first season in Portland. He improved significantly after the All-Star break and looked like a completely different player, being more comfortable, more aggressive and hitting his spots. Henderson has also had his share of ups and downs, as would be expected of a rookie acclimating to the NBA level of play.
However, like Ayton, he seemed more comfortable in the Blazers’ system towards the end of the year. Henderson has shown enough promise to consider him part of the long-term plan as a franchise point guard going forward.
