The Chicago Bulls know they are picking sixteenth overall in the 2017 NBA Draft, barring a trade.
With the NBA Draft Lottery being held Tuesday night, Chicago has a slim chance to add another pick and move into the lottery.
But it will take a miracle.
The Bulls got into this situation in a 2014 deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers that involved Luol Deng and Andrew Bynum. SB Nation breaks that down:
Approaching the 2014 trade deadline, the desperate Cavaliers threw the Kings’ protected pick to Chicago along with the Empty Shell of Andrew Bynum, a couple of second-round picks and a conditional pick swap for Luol Deng. Bulls fans have forever since been rooting for the Kings to be mediocre instead of the typical atrocious so that the pick finally moves.
Since that trade, Chicago has rooted for the Kings to be a decent team and pick outside of the top 10. It never happened.
As we enter Tuesday night’s lottery, Chicago still has a shot at the pick but the chances are less than 1 percent.
Boston Celtics assistant general manager Mike Zarren and director of basketball analytics David Sparks broke down the odds for all of the teams in the lottery.
According to the data, Chicago has less than a 0.05% chance to get the Kings pick. The Kings would have to fall out of the top 10 this year, which likely isn’t going to happen.
But wait, there’s more bad news.
This is the last year the Bulls have the rights to the pick. After this year, the Philadelphia 76ers get the rights to the pick if it falls outside of the top 10.
It’s possible the Bulls could end up with nothing in that trade with the Cavaliers. The Bulls also received two second round picks in that deal. One was traded to Orlando for the rights to Milovan Rakovic and the other to Orlando in 2016. The Bulls also drafted Paul Zipser with a second round pick in 2016.
Don’t expect any Derrick Rose-like miracles Tuesday night.
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