3 winners and losers of the shocking 2024 NBA Draft Lottery

In recent years, the NBA draft lottery has become far more unpredictable thanks to changes to the lottery process. That has increased the chances of surprise results and this year's draft lottery proved to be no different, with several unforeseen outcomes playing out. With a lot at stake, some teams made out better than others but who were the winners and losers of the draft lottery?

Winner: San Antonio Spurs

After winning the draft lottery last season, the Spurs had no reason to hope for a better result but they still had a fantastic outcome. The Spurs will now pick twice in the top 10 after the Toronto Raptors top-six protected first-round pick fell to eighth in the draft order.

Having both the 4th and 8th overall picks will give San Antonio chances to add another star or impact player to one of the best young cores in the NBA. Not only that, but they will still have as many as four first-round picks in next year's draft, even despite Toronto's pick conveying this year instead of next.

Having two top-10 picks also provides them with some flexibility. They could theoretically move up to number one, assuming that the Hawks would be open to trading the number one pick for the 4th and 8th selections.

If the Spurs find a player that they believe will be a star and will be off the board before they select at four, that might make sense. Otherwise, it should be fine with a top-four pick plus one received from the Raptors, who have to be kicking themselves for foolishly trading a lottery pick during a rebuild.