Raptors' Draft Pick Will be Impacted by Western Conference Play-In Results

The Western Conference Play-in tournament will impact how high the Toronto Raptors pick in the middle of the first round this summer

The Toronto Raptors may have an interest in the Western Conference play-in tournament.

For now, Toronto’s first-round pick from the Indiana Pacers is slotted to be somewhere between No. 17 and 19. Indiana finished the season in a three-way tie with the Los Angeles Laker and Philadelphia 76ers. The league will have a draw to break the three-way tiebreaker and Toronto will take the pick belonging to Indiana.

That’ll remain the case if the New Orleans Pelicans beat the Sacramento Kings on Friday night. Sacramento’s pick will remain in the lottery and New Orleans will have a tiebreaker to decide picks No. 22 and 23 with the Phoenix Suns.

However, if the Kings win Friday night, things are a little bit more complicated.

New Orleans would fall into the lottery in the No. 14 spot while Sacramento would jump into a tiebreaker with the Miami Heat for the 15th and 16th picks. In doing so, Toronto’s pick from Indiana would fall one spot lower in the first round as a pick somewhere between No. 18 and 20.

It may not seem like a big change but considering it could be Toronto’s only first-round pick this year, a Pelicans win should certainly be the preference for the Raptors.

Toronto’s own first-round pick is top-six protected and owed to the San Antonio Spurs for last year’s Jakob Poeltl trade. The Raptors have a 45.8% chance to keep the pick come next month’s draft lottery. If they do keep the pick, it’ll be owed to San Antonio as top-six protected next year.