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NYC bound for the NBA Lottery. Or as Jerry West once put it in one of my favorite quotes ever uttered to me, the "celebration of losers."
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) May 19, 2014
Before the Miami Heat face the Indiana Pacers tonight at 5:30 p.m. on ESPN, the 2014 NBA Draft Lottery will occur at 5 p.m.
It still feels weird for the draft to be this insignificant to the Warriors after years of making Secaucus, New Jersey the franchise's second home, but there might actually be reason to watch: the outcome of the lottery could change the landscape of what other teams are able to offer Minnesota for Kevin Love, which might not be a good thing for the Warriors.
Apricot laid things out pretty well in a comment last night:
The lottery could change everything. Lotto odds.(1) MIN wins the lottery. (~2% chance of top 3). Then they will probably keep Love.
(2) LAL wins the lottery (~21% chance of top 3). Then they have the option of offering the pick for Love. I think they're better off rebuilding but LAL is always about immediate gratification.
(3) BOS wins the lottery (~33% chance of top 3). Also in play for Love.
(4) PHX wins the lottery (~2% chance of top 3). This might be enough to make the deal w PHX happen. Their current picks are 14, 18 and 27 by my count. Those are only so-so picks and I don't think that gets the deal done.
None of these scenarios are good for the Ws.
That's still not to say that Love will definitely be traded this offseason, but the Warriors could find themselves at an even greater disadvantage in trying to acquire Love (without the help of a multi-team trade) by the end of the day.
Heading to lottery in couple hours, and I need a rooting interest. Best I can do so far: Minny moves up into top-3, to help them keep Love.
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) May 20, 2014
Dane Carbaugh of SB Nation has laid out the full lottery odds as well as a description of how the whole thing works and Jason Patt has a rundown of every team's lucky charms, which are clearly the most important factor in this whole process.
For full coverage and analysis of Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, you can check out SB Nation's Heat vs. Pacers section.
Enjoy another evening of basketball.