The 2025 NBA Draft Lottery will take place Monday night, and even though the Boston Celtics will not be participating, there are still a few storylines surrounding the event that should be interesting to C’s fans.
Unlike last year, the 2025 draft class is considered pretty strong. The top prize — Duke’s Cooper Flagg — is considered by many experts as a future superstar.
Flagg has the potential to instantly change the trajectory of an entire franchise. The Maine-born star won the 2025 Naismith Award, becoming just the fourth freshman ever to win the player of the year honor.
The Utah Jazz, Washington Wizards and Charlotte Hornets have the best odds to win the lottery at 14 percent apiece. The Jazz have never won the lottery. The Wizards last won in 2010 (John Wall) and the Hornets last won in 1991 (Larry Johnson).
Let’s take a look at a few storylines that Celtics fans should keep tabs on ahead of the lottery.
Will the Sixers keep their pick or send it to OKC?
One of the most interesting storylines in the lottery involves one of the Celtics’ biggest rivals. The Philadelphia 76ers had a disastrous season headlined by injuries and players underperforming. Philly started out 2-12 and never recovered. Former league MVP Joel Embiid played just 19 games due to injury.
The Sixers finished with the fifth-worst record at 24-58 and have a 10.5 percent chance to win the lottery. But there’s a chance they don’t keep their pick and get nothing from this awful season.
When the Sixers traded Al Horford to the Oklahoma City Thunder after the 2019-20 season, they also sent OKC a 2025 first-round pick as part of the deal. This is an example of how dangerous it can be to trade draft picks so far into the future.
Here are the pick odds for Philly going into the lottery, via Tankathon. The furthest the Sixers can drop is to No. 9.
- First: 10.5 percent
- Second: 10.5 percent
- Third: 10.6 percent
- Fourth: 10.5 percent
- Fifth: 2.2 percent
- Sixth: 19.6 percent
- Seventh: 26.7 percent (would convey to OKC)
- Eighth: 8.6 percent (would convey to OKC)
- Ninth: 0.6 percent (would convey to OKC)
The Sixers keeping their pick would give them a chance to improve their roster, either by taking a top-rated prospect or trading it for an established player. That scenario would not be ideal for the Celtics and the other contenders in the Eastern Conference. If the Sixers won the lottery and selected Flagg, the Celtics would play against him several times each season because Boston and Philly are in the same division.
The opposite scenario isn’t great for the league’s elite teams, either. The Thunder already have a stacked roster, and giving them another chance to draft a young star with this Sixers pick would help them remain a top contender for even longer.
Wizards’ lottery result doesn’t impact Celtics
The Wizards are tied with the Utah Jazz and Charlotte Hornets for the best lottery odds, but no matter where Washington ends up in the lottery, their second-round pick will go to the Celtics. It’s the second pick in Round 2 and No. 32 overall.
The Celtics acquired this second-round pick from the Wizards as part of a previous trade.
Second-round picks were finalized when the regular season ended last month because these picks are determined by reverse order of regular season record, and the Wizards had the second-worst record in the league.
The Celtics also have their own first-round pick (No. 28 overall). Boston’s second-round pick (No. 57 overall) will go to the Orlando Magic as part of a previous trade.
Decent chance Flagg ends up in the East
Five of the seven teams with the best odds to win the lottery and draft Flagg are in the Eastern Conference.
If the Duke star does end up with an East team, the Celtics would obviously play against him more often than if he were to go to a Western Conference franchise.
Rockets have a (small) chance to land No. 1 pick
The Houston Rockets showed massive improvement this season under head coach Ime Udoka. They won 52 games and lost in Game 7 of the first round to the Golden State Warriors. The Rockets have a roster full of exciting young players, including former lottery picks Amen Thompson, Jabari Smith and Jalen Green.
They also own a bunch of future draft picks, including the Phoenix Suns’ unprotected 2025 first-round selection. The Suns have a 3.8 percent chance to win the lottery, a 4.1 percent chance to finish land at No. 2, a 4.5 percent chance to land at No. 3 and a 4.9 percent chance to land at No. 4.
If the Rockets get a top-four pick, it would give them even more high-quality assets to use to upgrade their roster in the offseason.
