The rebuilding Hawks largely will depend on the draft to add talent but they have plenty of competition in the race to the bottom of the NBA standings and thus the best odds in the draft lottery. The stakes are high: After the 2018 draft the odds for the team with the worst record winning the lottery decrease dramatically .
Here is a look at the lottery prospects for the five teams with the worst projected records in the latest FiveThirtyEight.com predictions, starting with the worst team first (ties broken by rating):
1. Hawks (14-35)
FiveThirtyEight projected record: 24-58
Average point differential tends to be a better predictor of future performance than win/loss record. The Hawks have a better point differential (-4.69) than four teams: Kings (-8.69), Suns (-7.22), Bulls (-5.48) and Magic (-5.15). Nevertheless, FiveThirtyEight projects the Hawks to finish with the worst record. One possible reason for that: the Hawks have the league's worst record against the 18th-toughest schedule, according to Basketball-Reference's Simple Rating System, while the Kings have played the 10th-toughest and the Suns the 12th-toughest.
2. Kings (15-34)
Projected FiveThirtyEight record: 25-57
The Kings won at Miami Thursday for the first time since 2011. That victory also gave them consecutive victories for the first time since Dec. 19-20. But the Kings will be tough competition for the Hawks in the race to the bottom because they've been more committed to tank ... err, playing their young players over capable veterans. As Sacramento Bee Kings writer Jason Jones put it: "The plan all season from management was to use the veterans to help the young players compete, get them through some tough situations as best they could and eventually fade to the background."
3. Magic (14-34)
Projected FiveThirtyEight record: 26-56
Orlando spent much of the first third of the season in purgatory: not quite playoff-caliber, not quite bad enough to get good lottery odds. Then the Magic followed their victory over the Hawks on Dec. 6 with a nine-game losing streak, beat Detroit, and then lost seven more in a row. The losing is affecting Magic coach Frank Vogel's usual optimism and the team's fans have watched Victor Oladipo, the team's former draft pick, become an All-Star with the Pacers. The player the Magic acquired in that trade, Serge Ibaka, is a key piece for the Raptors and the draft pick they sent away was used on promising Pacers prospect Domantas Sabonis.
4. Suns (17-33)
Projected FiveThirtyEight record: 27-55
The Suns have lost four games in a row, seven of eight and nine of 11. The Suns, like the Hawks, could have as many as three first-round draft picks this year and general manager Ryan McDonough told azcentral that he intends to be aggressive in free agency while building the team around Devin Booker.
5. Nets (18-32)
Projected FiveThirtyEight record: 29-53
The Nets had a 10-14 record through Dec. 7. They are 8-18 since and the injuries are starting to pile up.
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