Raptors Reportedly One Number Away From Winning Draft Lottery Twice

The Toronto Raptors were reportedly one number away from winning the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery for both the No. 1 pick and the No. 2 pick

May 12, 2024; Chicago, IL, USA; A overall shot of the 2024 NBA Draft Lottery at McCormick Place West. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images | David Banks-Imagn Images

The Toronto Raptors came within a single ping pong ball of winning the NBA Draft Lottery.

Twice.

Toronto entered Monday night’s lottery with the seventh-best odds, holding a 7.5% chance at the No. 1 pick and a 7.8% shot at No. 2. Dropping two spots to ninth was frustrating enough. The way it unfolded made it worse.

According to Doug Smith of the Toronto Star, the Raptors had three of the four numbers required for the winning combination. The first sequence read 10-14-11 heading into the final ball. If a 4 had been drawn, Toronto would have landed the first overall pick and the chance to select Cooper Flagg, the Duke forward widely considered one of the best No. 1 prospects in recent memory.

Instead, the machine spit out a 7. The Dallas Mavericks won.

Then it happened again.

Toronto once again held the first three numbers of the winning combination, this time 12-13-11. Once again, a 4 would have changed everything. It would have moved the Raptors into the top two, where Rutgers guard Dylan Harper is widely expected to be the second player off the board. Instead, the final number was a 5. The San Antonio Spurs jumped to No. 2.

The Raptors were one number away. Twice.

To make matters worse, this is not unfamiliar territory.

According to The Athletic, Toronto was also a single digit short of the top pick in last year’s lottery. Atlanta jumped to No. 1 and took Zaccharie Risacher. The Raptors slid to No. 8 and were forced to send the pick to San Antonio as part of the Jakob Poeltl trade.

Now the Raptors are left to regroup.

They have won just 55 games over the last two seasons combined and have little more than the No. 9 pick in this year’s draft to show for it.

Lottery heartbreak is nothing new in Toronto. This one might sting the most.