Standings Watch: Thunder Maintain Three-Way Tie For Best Shot at Top Pick
The Oklahoma City Thunder are currently on an eight-game skid with two games remaining. They're also 2-25 since the trade deadline, which is the worst record in the NBA over that span.
There are only a handful of teams OKC is competing with for draft lottery positioning at this point. These teams include the Houston Rockets, Detroit Pistons, Minnesota Timberwolves, Orlando Magic and Cleveland Cavaliers. While Oklahoma City has lost almost all of their games recently, all of these teams have won more than them, helping the Thunder's draft lottery odds.
With just two games remaining in the 2020-21 season for the Thunder, they currently hold sole possession of the third-best lottery odds, meaning they are in a three-way tie in terms of percent chance at the top pick. However, there are two other teams with the same number of wins, so by the end of the day Thursday, OKC could be in a three-way tie for the third-best lottery odds overall, making things more complex.
This tiebreaker would be broken by a lottery draw to determine the third, fourth and fifth best draft lottery odds if the season were to end in a tie. If OKC were to stick at third in the lottery standings like they are today, they would have as good of a shot (14.0 percent) of any team at the No. 1 overall pick.
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OKC lottery odds jump to third
Here are the current lottery odds:
- Houston Rockets (16-53)
- Detroit Pistons (20-50)
- Oklahoma City Thunder (21-49)
- Cleveland Cavaliers (21-48)
- Orlando Magic (21-48)
- Minnesota Timberwolves (22-47)
- Toronto Raptors (27-42)
- Chicago Bulls (29-40)
- New Orleans Pelicans (31-38)
- Sacramento Kings (31-38)
Currently in a tie for the third-best shot at the top pick, OKC likely won't move much over the last few days of the season. With just the Jazz and Clippers remaining on the schedule, the Thunder will be heavy underdogs in their final two games of the season.
