Report: NBA lottery expected to have same format as '19

When the NBA suspended the season on March 11 because of the coronavirus
pandemic, teams had played between 63 and 67 games. In the eyes of some
executives, that discrepancy in games would make it difficult to hold a
lottery in the same fashion as before. But according to the ESPN report,
enough games have been played to constitute a representative sample.

Another reason for the lottery to remain unchanged, per ESPN, was the change
the league made prior to last year's lottery. The first four slots are
determined via lottery, with the teams with the three worst records each
having a 14 percent chance of getting the first pick, and the teams with the
fourth- through 13th-worst records seeing their odds decrease on a sliding
scale.

Under the previous format, the first three spots were determined by lottery,
but the team with the worst record held a 25 percent chance of winning, and
the odds decreasing beginning with the second-worst record.

"I wouldn't expect changes," one executive with a team headed for the lottery
told ESPN.

The lottery originally was scheduled to take place Tuesday night. The scouting
combine was also supposed to take place this week, in Chicago. According to
the report, the NBA is still hoping to hold the event later this year.

The league last week reportedly asked teams to vote for up to 70 players they
would like invited to the combine. It is believed that should a combine take
place, it most would likely be a virtual combine, with teams watching players
work out from afar.

"I think, like everything, they'll severely restrict who can be (at the
combine), and they can maybe stream it," an Eastern Conference executive told
ESPN. "But I do think it'll happen."

--Field Level Media