Detroit Pistons unlucky in 2018 NBA Draft Lottery as pick goes to Clippers

The Detroit Pistons needed a lot of luck on their side to keep their first round pick in the 2018 NBA Draft but it didn’t happen. The pick now goes to the Clippers.

The Detroit Pistons gave up a first round pick in the deal to acquire Blake Griffin from the Los Angeles Clippers but that pick would stay with the Pistons if they ended up with a pick in the top four in the 2018 NBA Draft.

Because the draft lottery only picks the top three picks, there was no chance the Pistons could end up with the fourth overall pick. It was either one or two, three if if they jumped up in the lottery or 12, 13 or 14 if they stayed put or were jumped in the lottery.

The Pistons had just a 0.7% chance to win the lottery, a 0.8% chance to get the second pick and a 1.0% chance to get the third pick. That’s just a 2.5% to move into the top three and to hold on to the pick for at least one more year before it was potentially conveyed to the Clipppers.

So it comes with no surprise that when the 2018 NBA Draft Lottery results were revealed tonight, the 12th overall pick was headed to the Clippers. Instead of hitting that 2.5% chance stroke of luck, the 97.5% odds hit.

With the first round pick going to the Clippers, the Pistons will have just their original second round pick to work with in the 2018 NBA Draft. That’s a tough blow as a new regime will begin (eventually) after Stan Van Gundy was fired as head coach and president of basketball operations but perhaps it is for the best that having to give up the pick to the Clippers will be water under the bridge.

The 2018 NBA Draft will be held on June 21, 2018 at Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn.