Lakers and Kings Draft Pick Watch -- 2025

[CP War Hawks]

Heat are hot and can catch sac in the overall standings...

[D21]

As ATL are capable of the best and the worst, I was suspecting since some weeks a semi-tanking season.
I said "semi" because it would not be really tanking (to get a better pick as it will go to SAS), but to finished with a lower record than SAC and be sure to get two teams with a lower record, placing SAC at 13th at best before the lottery... But if it continues, there won't be any SAC pick
They can finish out of the play-in, or still finish better than PHX, but with both MIA and CHI passing them, there would be only ATL lower, and they would 12th and most likely keep their pick

And it's also frustrating to see LAL winning some tied games, it would be great to see GSW, LAC and MIN catching LAL in the last games (MEM are not winning now) and seeing them loosing in the play-in...
NYK are still ahead of LAL, and IND can catch them too.

[D21]

It will certainly be a little late to get LAL in play-in, especially with all the tiebreakers they own, but it was almost perfect last night:
LAL lost, now at 48-31
IND won, now at 48-31
MEM won, now at 47-32
LAC won, now at 47-32
GSW won, now at 47-32, beating PHX and making official SAC in play-in (which is still not enough to be sure of getting their pick)

Only NYK and MIN lost, but NYK keep 2 game lead over LAL
It would be great to see LAL lose at least 2 of the last 3 games, they could even finish in the play-in. If only OKC had won both last games Vs LAL...


Regarding SAC, we need at least 2 play-in teams with a worse record.
They are at 39-40
ORL at 39-40
DAL at 38-41
ATL at 37-42
CHI and MIA at 36-43

With one more L for CHI and MIA, or one more W for SAC, we will be sure to get the pick if the worst record teams lose Vs the better ones.
Until that point, we need to tank in case SAC don't win any game and one of CHI or MIA catch them

And then, once in play-in, if for example DAL beat SAC and the winner of 7th Vs 8th, SAC will have the worst record from West play-in teams, so we will need the two losers in the East with a lower record than SAC to get the pick

Imagine the order stay the same, SAC are beaten by DAL (and DAL won Vs winner of 7th Vs 8th), ATL beat ORL, then ORL is beaten by the winner of CHI/MIA, the team with the worst record would be the loser of CHI/MIA, then SAC and... they would keep their pick

So we need to tank, and/or lose in play-in... and wait for the lottery too

[Jamaaliver]

Unreal

[Jamaaliver]

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[CP War Hawks]

Couldn't have hoped for better results for these picks today. Need Clips to force themselves into a tie breaker with the LAL pick but it's a few other teams already in that mix.

[D21]

It's already a bit frustrating to see that LAL were on the verge of being a play-in team, so we need DEN and LAC to win today and match the 50-32 record of LAL and IND.
If a bit lucky, coin flip will make the LAL pick the 22th

[Jamaaliver]

Going into the Play-In:

[Jamaaliver]

Couldn't have hoped for better results for these picks today. Need Clips to force themselves into a tie breaker with the LAL pick but it's a few other teams already in that mix.

Hawks indeed lucked out.

Now it's down to a coin flip.

[Jamaaliver]

Light the beam season was 2 years ago, right?

They've since lost their PG, SG, Head Coach, GM and likely their best player this summer. Wow!

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[D21]

After the L tonight, we have to hope that MEM will win their game, making DAL and CHI the two teams at 11th and 12th, and ATL and SAC having a coin flip for 13th and 14th.

If DAL win, the coin flip between ATL and SAC will set the 12th and 13th

[Jamaaliver]

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[D21]

Nice to see that we got a bit lucky on tiebreakers, especially for the LAL pick.
Thanks to them for their L in the last game of the regular season, it would have been the 25-26th pick if they had won (tiebreaker with NYK).

[Jamaaliver]

Kings have a 3.8 percent chance at top-four

The Sacramento Kings are unlikely to have a first-round pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, but that fate will be sealed on Monday night during the NBA Draft Lottery.

When acquiring Kevin Huerter from the Atlanta Hawks a few years back, then general manager of the Kings, Monte McNair, traded a future first-round in the deal that included year-by-year protections.

It was top-14 protected in 2024, and Sacramento ended up with the 13th-worst record, taking Providence’s Devin Carter with their selection. The protections then became top-12 in 2025, which will be decided via ping pong balls on Monday afternoon.

Their 40-42 regular season record (and a won coin flip over the Hawks) landed them the 13th-best odds, barely outside their protections.

The only possible outcomes for the Kings are remaining at 13th, falling to 14th (3.4 percent odds), or somehow jumping into the top four, which they have a 3.8 percent chance of doing. That includes a 0.8 percent chance of securing the number one overall selection, where most experts expect Duke’s Cooper Flagg to be selected.

More likely than not, Sacramento’s pick will finally be conveyed to Atlanta. If that takes place, they will be exempt from their future protections, but if the outlier scenario takes place and they jump into the top four their 2026 first-round pick would be top-10 protected or otherwise owed to the Hawks.

Sactown Sports

[jayu70]

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[Geaux_Hawks]

So Kevin Huerter turns into the 13th pick in the 2025 Draft.

[HMFFL]

So Kevin Huerter turns into the 13th pick in the 2025 Draft.

Let's see what we do with it.
Time will tell if we won the trade or not.

Sent from my SM-S928U1 using RealGM mobile app

[Geaux_Hawks]

So Kevin Huerter turns into the 13th pick in the 2025 Draft.

Let's see what we do with it.
Time will tell if we won the trade or not.

Sent from my SM-S928U1 using RealGM mobile app

I say we already won. We drafted Huerter at pick 19 in a strong draft. He's been a solid bench guy, but nothing special. Now we have pick 13 in another strong draft(hopefully).

[jayu70]

So Kevin Huerter turns into the 13th pick in the 2025 Draft.

Let's see what we do with it.
Time will tell if we won the trade or not.

Sent from my SM-S928U1 using RealGM mobile app

I say we already won. We drafted Huerter at pick 19 in a strong draft. He's been a solid bench guy, but nothing special. Now we have pick 13 in another strong draft(hopefully).

We got a higher pick than where he was drafted, but for 3 years that trade had a negative impact on the court in terms of a playable contributing body since it was a salary dump.