Detroit Pistons tank update: How recent wins have affected the lottery odds

The Detroit Pistons have won two of their last three games and it has hurt them in the race for the worst record in the NBA.

Their recent blowout win over the Wizards gave the Pistons 14 wins overall and their position as a bottom-3 team is being threatened.

Luckily the Magic won last night as well, but the Cavaliers have now lost four in a row and are right on the Pistons’ heels in the East.

Both the Timberwolves and Rockets continue to stink in the West, so the Pistons are going to have their work cut out for them if they want to have the best possible odds of landing a top-five pick.

Only the worst team in the NBA is guaranteed to stay in the top five and given the Pistons historical bad luck in the lottery, fans are expecting the worst if the Pistons don’t have that guarantee.

The tank is teetering on the brink after two recent wins. Here is where the Detroit Pistons stand.

Detroit Pistons: What are the Pistons’ current lottery odds?

After their win against the Wizards, the Pistons “dropped” a spot to the third-worst record in the league overall.

The Pistons had been holding on to the second-worst record but Houston has out-tanked them of late and taken that spot.

The bottom-3 teams all have the same odds when it comes to staying in the top-four and getting the number one pick, so the Pistons still have a 52.1 percent chance at a top-four pick and a 14 percent chance of getting the top pick overall.

They are now three games worse than both Cleveland and Orlando and 3.5 worse than the Wizards, so the Pistons still have some breathing room, but they won’t if they continue to win games.

With two winnable games coming up against the Knicks and Thunder, the Detroit Pistons need to be careful, as they can’t waste this season by dropping out of the bottom three.

Now is not the time to go on a winning streak and the Pistons may have to get creative with their roster to ensure this doesn’t happen, as they have already given this season over to the rebuild and need to come away with a top-five pick.