The Detroit Pistons are currently the NBA’s worst team with a 16-60 record, and if they don’t win another game, would tie the franchise record for fewest wins in a season.
But if you are going to be the league’s worst team, the is the year to do it, as consensus #1 pick Victor Wembanyama would be worth all of the losses, as depressing as they have often been.
Having the worst record also grantees that the team can fall no further than 5th in the 2023 NBA Draft, though that would be the worst-case scenario in a draft where one prospect is clearly above the rest.
So there is some hope and logic to all of this losing, and we’ll find out if it worked when the NBA Draft Lottery rolls around in May.
With all of the injuries they have right now, there is a good possibility that the Detroit Pistons will end the season with the worst record, but what happens if there is a tie?
Detroit Pistons lottery odds: How do NBA lottery tiebreakers work?
With just six games left to play, a tie for the worst record in the NBA is still a possibility.
The Detroit Pistons are just 1.5 games below the Houston Rockets for the worst record and the two teams play each other tomorrow night in what might be the biggest tank-off in the history of the league.
Don’t be surprised if The Dancing Usher or some random fan is in the starting lineup for the Pistons tomorrow.
If the Pistons lose, the worst record is all but guaranteed, win, and it will go down to the wire.
Tiebreakers are broken by a random drawing, which is as cryptic as it is anti-climatic and lends even more weight to my opinion that the number one pick should be determined by a tournament with the worst teams as the end of the season.
But for now, a random drawing could potentially decide who has the worst record, which wouldn’t change the odds for the #1 pick at all, but would make it possible for Detroit to drop to 6th in the draft instead of 5th, so there is something at stake.