In the current lottery setup, 14 ping pong balls are placed in a lottery machine, and four are drawn out at a time. There are 1,001 possible combinations of the four balls (regardless of order), and 1,000 of those combinations are assigned to the 14 teams. The number of assigned combinations is in alignment with the team’s odds of winning the lottery. For example, the teams with the worst, second-worst and third-worst records have 140 assigned combinations (aligning with their 14 percent chance to win the lottery).
After being placed in the machine, the balls are mixed for 20 seconds, then the first ball is taken out. Then the remaining balls are mixed for another 10 seconds before the second ball is taken out, which repeats for the third and fourth balls. The team with that assigned combination of four balls will receive the No. 1 pick.
The process then repeats with the same balls for picks No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4. If one unassigned combination is drawn, the result of that drawing is discarded and the balls are drawn again.
After the fourth pick is drawn, draft slots five through 14 are assigned in inverse order of regular-season record. Thus, a team with the worst record can’t select lower than fifth, the second-worst record can’t select lower than sixth and so on.
As the broadcast announces the draft order from 14 to one, any reveal that a team has slipped back in the draft is a sign that another team has leaped up.
