The 2018 NBA Draft lottery is over and the draft order is officially set. The Phoenix Suns will pick first overall and will likely select DeAndre Ayton or Luka Doncic. The Kings climb all the way up and land the No. 2 overall pick while the Hawks round out the top three. Here are the winners and losers:
WINNERS
Phoenix and its ongoing rebuild
The Phoenix Suns have been in a weird place ever since their surprisingly successful 2013-14 season, and they needed some good news on Tuesday -- at the end of their 21-win campaign in April, Devin Booker said that he is "done with not making the playoffs." The No. 1 pick does not guarantee a return to relevance next season, but it makes their future a lot brighter and gives Booker a reason to believe in general manager Ryan McDonough's plan.
McDonough's draft history is a mixed bag. Getting Booker at No. 13 in 2015 is a minor miracle, and it makes up for selecting Alex Len No. 5 in 2013. The jury is still out on Marquese Chriss, Dragan Bender and Josh Jackson. Now, Phoenix will have a chance to select someone who can be a real cornerstone (alongside Booker) and simplify everybody else's role. The question over the next 6 weeks: which high-ceiling prospect does this front office want? Which brings us to …
Luka Doncic?
The connection between new Suns coach Igor Kokoskov and the do-everything 19-year-old is real: The two of them won EuroBasket with the Slovenian national team last summer, and they are definitely mutual admirers. Because of this -- and the fact that a Booker-Doncic backcourt is extremely exciting -- it is possible that Phoenix winning the lottery represented the best possible outcome if Doncic dreams of being selected first.
If the Suns take Doncic, having Kokoskov around should help his transition to the NBA. It is also nice that his mentor, Goran Dragic, is familiar with the city of Phoenix. It's too early to know whether or not he will end up being at the top of McDonough's draft board, though.
DeAndre Ayton?
Doncic would be the best story for the Suns, but let's not forget that his main competition played just down the street at Arizona. Ayton, a massive and talented center, is a known quantity among all NBA talent evaulators, but he will be particularly familiar to the Phoenix front office.
Another bonus for Ayton: While there is a surplus of good centers in the league, the Suns clearly need someone like him. If Len is retained in the offseason, it will be as a backup. If Tyson Chandler finishes out his contract in Phoenix, it will be as a mentor.
Sacramento, the most desperate team at the lottery
This is an amazing evening for the Sacramento Kings, who don't have a pick in next year's draft and thus desperately needed something good to happen in the lottery. They had an 18.3 chance to jump into the top three, and it happened -- they will pick No. 2 overall. Let's hope they don't outsmart themselves here: the easy thing to do is just take Ayton or Doncic, depending on who is available.
Sacramento has a bunch of interesting young players -- De'Aaron Fox, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Buddy Hield and Willie Cauley-Stein among them -- but it is unclear if any of them have true franchise-player potential. In June, they will add a player who does.
Atlanta Hawks?
The Atlanta Hawks (with actress/owner Jami Gertz on hand) had essentially the same odds as Dallas, but wound up with the third pick. We have to call them winners, but it's interesting to think about how many executives would really want to be in their position. As the draft approaches, a lot of analysts are going to say that it only really starts with the third pick, as Ayton and Doncic are the likely selections in the top two.
Nailing a pick like this is extremely difficult, and fans of rebuilding teams do not tend to be forgiving when a front office hits a single rather than a home run. The Hawks got a great, potentially franchise-changing asset here, but they will be under a lot of pressure.
LOSERS
Cleveland and its silly streak
The Cleveland Cavaliers' lottery luck finally ran out. After getting the No. 1 pick in 2011, 2013 and 2014, the Cavs stayed put at No. 8 with Brooklyn's pick this time. While this pick is still a valuable asset, their front office was definitely hoping for more when they acquired it in the Kyrie Irving deal last summer.
It is impossible, of course, to talk about this without talking about the future of LeBron James. If he leaves this summer, management should not expect to be able to find a new franchise player in the draft. If Cleveland wants to trade the pick for an established player to try to convince James to stay, it might have to be part of a bigger deal that includes, say, Kevin Love. The scariest part of all of this is that general manager Koby Altman and his staff will likely have to decide what to do without knowing James' intentions.
Memphis, now in no-man's land
The Grizzlies had the second-best odds to win the lottery, but instead fell to fourth. This is a murky position where they will have plenty of options, and a lot will be riding on this pick. Aside from grabbing Dillon Brooks 45th overall last season, Memphis' recent draft history is pretty rough, but the hope was that this injury-ravaged season would result in the front office adding a transformational player that would be almost impossible to find otherwise.
That is still possible, but it's tricky. How do you rank Marvin Bagley, Jaren Jackson, Mo Bamba, Trae Young, Miles Bridges, Mikal Bridges, Wendell Carter and Michael Porter? There is absolutely no consensus here among draft "experts," and the Grizzlies will be ripped if they don't get this one right.
The good news: The last time Memphis picked fourth, it took Mike Conley.
Dallas, in need of an heir to Dirk's throne
The Dallas Mavericks fell to fifth, which isn't all that bad but is definitely disappointing. Like the Grizzlies, they were hoping that their tanked season would give them a surefire superstar. While they are still in the range where they could wind up with the best player in the draft, no organization sets itself up for a 24-win season because it wants the fifth pick.
