Detroit Pistons look to get lucky in NBA Draft lottery: What to know

Pistons have top-5 odds

DETROIT – The 2020 NBA Draft Lottery is on Thursday night -- and the Detroit Pistons have a shot at the top pick.

The Pistons finished the shortened 2019-2020 season with a 20-46 record, giving them the fifth best odds at the No. 1 pick in the lottery, with 10.5 percent. Golden State, Cleveland and Minnesota have the best odds, at 14 percent.

Recommended Videos



The Pistons haven’t had many top-three draft picks in the team’s history. They drafted Isiah Thomas No. 2 overall in 1981, and Joe Dumars at No. 18 in 1985. Grant Hill was drafted No. 3 overall in 1994.

In fact, the Pistons haven’t had a top-five pick since 2003, when they drafted Darko Milicic. That didn’t turn out well.

The 2020 NBA Draft Lottery will be held on Thursday, August 20 at 8:30 ET (ESPN).

The 37th annual NBA Draft Lottery will determine the order of selection for the first 14 picks of the 2020 NBA Draft. Drawings will be conducted to determine the first four picks in the NBA Draft. The remainder of the “lottery teams” will select in positions five through 14 in inverse order of their 2019-20 regular-season records.

The Draft selections for the remainder of the first round (No. 15-30) and the entire second round (No. 30-60), are determined by reverse order of regular season record. Each NBA team gets one selection in the first round and one selection in the second round.

The New Orleans Pelicans won the Lottery in 2019. They would ultimately use that pick to select Duke star Zion Williamson.


About the Author:

Ken Haddad has proudly been with WDIV/ClickOnDetroit since 2013. He also authors the Morning Report Newsletter and various other newsletters, and helps lead the WDIV Insider team. He's a big sports fan and is constantly sipping Lions Kool-Aid.