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3 hours ago
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In the NBA's current draft lottery system, the team with the worst record in the NBA can fall no further than the No. 5 pick in the annual ping-pong-ball aligning.
For three years in a row, the team in that worst-record spot has wound up with the fifth pick.
The Utah Jazz were the latest to suffer that fate. Instead of getting a chance to take Duke's Cooper Flagg, they will instead wind up with a draft prospect that has serious warts.
It's a brutal blow for Utah, and for the Wizards, who will pick No. 6, the lowest they could've fallen down the board, too.
It shows the perils of tanking in the modern system.
MORE: LeBron's reaction to Cooper Flagg's Mavs news has retirement rumors intensifying
The worst record in the league used to have up to a 25 percent chance of the top pick.
Now, the three-worst records each have a 14 percent chance at No. 1. This year, that was the Jazz, Wizards and Hornets.
That leaves an 86 percent chance someone else gets the top spot, although you'd then hope there wouldn't be a fall four spots down the board and maybe instead only one or two.
MORE: Bulls were a miracle halfcourt shot from Cooper Flagg
Because of Monday night's outcome, the Jazz, Wizards and Hornets might very well find themselves back seeking the top spot in next year's draft.
That might lead to either Duke's Cameron Boozer or BYU's A.J. Dybantsa.
But given how this lottery went, maybe that's not a tanking gamble worth taking.
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