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The Los Angeles Lakers find out if they will get a chance at a top-five lottery pick Tuesday night when the annual NBA Draft lottery gets underway. Television coverage begins at 5:30 p.m. PT on ESPN in what will become a nerve-racking process for fans and the franchise as the draft order is finalized one pick at a time.
Each team will send a representative that will be on stage as the event unfolds. The Lakers selected head coach Byron Scott after sending James Worthy to the 2014 lottery. Other rep's include Russell Westbrook, Vlade Divac, Larry Bird, Nerlens Noel, Alex Len and an assortment of team executives.
The unveiling is fairly straightforward for something that has incredibly high stakes implications. The selections will be revealed in reverse order, meaning the drawing will start at No. 14. NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum will open an envelop that has a team's logo inside of it, which will be determined via ping pong balls prior to the live reveal. The Lakers' holding the fourth-overall position means any team jumping up from one of the early selections is a bad omen. If two teams move into the top-three, and the Lakers don't do the same, that would drop Los Angeles' pick out of the top-five.
Once the order reaches the final seven things come down to the wire for the Lakers. If the Lakers' pick drops to the sixth or seventh slot, the 76ers logo will be pulled out of the envelope, along with text under it clarifying that the pick is heading to Philadelphia via the Lakers. Lakers fans do NOT want to see a 76ers logo here. There is a 17.2 percent chance the Lakers' pick will be conveyed to Philadelphia.
After that it become a waiting game. The Lakers are most likely to drop to the fifth-overall pick, and actually hold only a 9.9 percent chance of staying at No. 4 once the smoke settles. There's a 37.8 percent chance Los Angeles slides up into the top-three, which would be a huge moment for the purple and gold.
The odds are in the Lakers favor, but as fans have been reminded of repeatedly over the last few seasons, odds don't mean much. All that matters is the result, where anything can happen once the final three envelopes are opened. Remember to breath, this is going to be intense.