The future of 14 NBA franchises could be altered forever tonight at 8:30 p.m., when the NBA Draft Lottery is held on ESPN. Fans of one of the downtrodden franchises who failed to reach the postseason this year, or those with a general interest can live stream the lottery by clicking this link.
The team with the greatest odds of landing the first overall pick is the Orlando Magic, who finished with a league-worst 20-62 record in the first year of the post-Dwight Howard era. They have a 25 percent chance of snapping up that top pick, trailed by the Charlotte Bobcats, who have a 19.9 percent chance. Following those two are the Cleveland Cavaliers, Phoenix Suns and New Orleans Hornets.
The worst team in the NBA has not won the lottery since 2004, which could put frowns on the faces of Orlando Magic supporters. However, in 2004 that lowly team who actually did get the first pick was the Magic. They used that pick to take the aforementioned Howard.
One lottery ball to watch will be for the Toronto Raptors, who have an 0.7 percent chance at the No. 1 pick, a 0.8 percent chance at No. 2 and a one percent chance at the third pick. The reason this is important is simple; if their pick falls outside of the top three, the Oklahoma City Thunder will own the pick, and be able to take a player inside the top 14, adding him to the core of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka.
Oklahoma City also owns the 29th pick and 32nd pick in the 2013 draft.
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