The final stretch of the most protracted draft cycle in NBA history begins in earnest with Thursday’s lottery, determining the fates of the league’s underachievers and letting the first major wave of offseason speculation commence in earnest.
Of course, the NBA’s decision to “smooth” the lottery odds and build more equal-opportunity into everyone’s favorite, random, franchise-altering system paid off immediately in 2019, with New Orleans and Memphis making surprise leaps into the No. 1 and No. 2 slots. It so happened that there were two legitimate cornerstone prospects in last year’s draft. Zion Williamson and Ja Morant injected instant life into their respective organizations and have already shifted trajectories for the Pelicans and Grizzlies.