Charlotte Hornets: 2017 NBA Draft Lottery odds
By Frank Urbina
Here’s a look at the Charlotte Hornets’ odds of landing the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, and where they’ll most likely be choosing.
Just a year removed from a 48-win campaign and almost booking a trip to the Eastern Conference semifinals, the Charlotte Hornets now find themselves anxiously awaiting the 2017 NBA Draft Lottery. They couldn’t find their footing this season (mostly due to injury), and it’s a shame because they wasted the best year of Kemba Walker‘s still-blossoming career.
But that’s okay! He’s still just 27 years old, Cody Zeller won’t be this unlucky health-wise forever and 2015 first round pick Frank Kaminsky made real strides (at least offensively) in 2016-17. There’s still hope on the horizon in Charlotte’s not-so-distant future.
Not to mention the fact that the 2017 NBA Draft is loaded, especially in the top 12. And that’s where the Hornets will almost certainly be picking from.
Charlotte’s draft pick odds go as follows:
- 1st: 0.8%
- 2nd: 0.9%
- 3rd: 1.2%
- 11th: 90.7%
- 12th: 6.3%
- 13th: 0.1%
- 14th: 0.0%
Essentially, there’s a 97 percent chance the Hornets will own either the 11th or 12th pick.
In its history, Charlotte has never chosen from the No. 11 spot before, meaning their likeliest outcome would be a first for their franchise. They have previously selected at No. 12 back in the 2009 NBA Draft, when they went with Gerald Henderson.
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If the unlikely were to happen and the Hornets landed a pick in the top three spots (2.9 percent chance of that actually occurring), it would be the sixth time in the team’s history that the weighted lottery system — which began in 1990 — gifted them so favorably. (They did receive the No. 2 pick in 2004 as well, but they did so as an expansion team and not through the lottery, as it was their first year under their new moniker: the Bobcats. They used it on Emeka Okafor.)
Through the lottery, Charlotte has picked first overall once, second overall twice and third overall twice. With the first pick in 1991, they chose future two-time All-Star Larry Johnson.
In 1992, using the second pick, they took Alonzo Mourning, who went on to enjoy a Hall of Fame career (though mostly not as a member of the Hornets). With the same selection in 2012, they drafted Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.
Finally, with the third pick, Charlotte chose Baron Davis in 1999 and Adam Morrison in 2006.
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Overall, out of the five selections, they really only made one poor decision. So if the Hornets were to miraculously strike gold again on Tuesday night, I think we can trust them to make the right choice come draft night.