NBA

The 4 Most Likely NBA Draft Lottery Scenarios

How much could the ping pong balls decide tonight for teams with a chance at the top overall pick?

With almost every NBA basketball fan focused on the NBA Playoffs and the newly underway Conference Finals, it's understandable that the NBA Draft Lottery will fly a little under the radar Tuesday night.

However, for many fanbases -- particularly of those teams that failed to crack the playoffs in the 2015-16 season -- the lottery is far more important than tonight's Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Winning, or even snatching a top-three pick, via the lottery could be the building block of an organization's turnaround.

And that's exactly what Sixers, Lakers, Celtics, and Suns fans alike are all hoping for.

According to Tankathon, these are the only four teams with more than a 10% chance of receiving the number one overall pick, so I'd expect these four teams, and their fanbases, to be on the edge of their seats as the ping pong balls begin to bounce this fateful evening.

With that in mind, what could the lottery mean for these four teams? What could it mean for the top-four picks of this year's draft? I'm here to explore all of the "ifs" surrounding just that.

I'll touch on each of the four scenarios that could transpire if each of the top four teams hit the jackpot. In order to simplify, after the number one pick, picks two through four are determined by overall odds, which in order are: Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Brooklyn (Boston), and Phoenix.

If the Lakers are somehow kicked to the fourth or fifth pick (a 44.2% chance), they will forfeit the selection to the Philadelphia 76ers in what has turned out to be an all but damning Steve Nash trade in 2012. The Sixers would then possess four of the top 26 picks in the first round of this year's NBA Draft.

For now, assuming that doesn't happen (and Laker Nation avoids a night full of tears), which scenarios will benefit who and why? Let's check it out.