Sports

Hawks out of contention for best draft lottery odds

102715 ATLANTA: -- A new Hawks logo is painted on the tunnel wall leading out to the court for the first regular season basketball game "home opener" on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, in Atlanta.  Curtis Compton / ccompton@ajc.com
102715 ATLANTA: -- A new Hawks logo is painted on the tunnel wall leading out to the court for the first regular season basketball game "home opener" on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, in Atlanta. Curtis Compton / ccompton@ajc.com
April 7, 2018

The Hawks won’t have the best odds to win the NBA draft lottery because they won’t finish with the league’s worst record.

The Hawks won at the Wizards on Friday, and the Suns lost at home to the Pelicans. Those results mean that, with two games to play for both teams, the Hawks (23-57) will finish with a better record than the Suns (20-60).

The Hawks have the third-worst record in the league. The Grizzlies (21-58) and Mavericks (24-56) also lost on Friday.

The team that finishes with the worst record (if no teams are tied) will have a 25 percent chance of winning the top pick in the lottery. The team with the second-worst record has about a 20 percent chance of winning the lottery and the team with the third-worst record has roughly a 16 percent chance.

The Hawks conclude the season with games at the Celtics (54-25) on Sunday and at home against the Sixers (49-30) on Tuesday.

About the Author

Michael Cunningham has covered Atlanta sports for the AJC since 2010.

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