You might notice something different during the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery tonight: The Detroit Pistons won’t have the 5th pick.
After landing #5 three years in a row, Pistons’ fans can rest easy tonight, as Detroit’s appearance in the playoffs ensured that they wouldn’t have a pick in the lottery. That pick, which was owed from the Isaiah Stewart draft trade back in 2020, will go to the Minnesota Timberwolves as #18 after passing through several teams on its lengthy journey.
It wasn’t the best year not to have a pick, as the top of this draft is loaded with potential star talent, but the Pistons already have a very good group of young players that just made the playoffs, so they’ll make that trade off any day of the week.
Even though the Pistons won’t be called in the Draft Lottery, there are results that would help them. Here are four outcomes the Pistons should hope for tonight.
A Western Conference team wins the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery
Let’s just go ahead and keep Cooper Flagg out west, shall we? I am certain that basketball fans in Utah will be praying they win the Great White Hope lottery to bring Flagg to Salt Lake City and turn their fortunes around.
The Pistons should hope for this, as it would not only keep Flagg out of the East, but may make Lauri Markkanen, a guy Detroit would love to have, available in a trade. Similarly, New Orleans winning would have the same effect and potentially put Zion Williamson on the market (not that the Pistons should pursue him).
Either way, it’s best if the #1 pick goes West.
Philadelphia falls out of the top 6
No team is sweating out these results more than Philly, who will lose their pick if it falls out of the top six. If it does, it will go to the OKC Thunder, who just won 68 games, making the rich even richer, but that’s a problem for the Western Conference teams to deal with.
Not only would it be extremely funny for Philly to lose their pick after the nightmare season they just had, but it would keep another top pick in the West and keep a possible playoff opponent for the Pistons from getting a young talent.
I had psycho Philly fans trolling me during the playoffs (they search Tobias Harris’ name incessantly), so it would be nice to see them suffer a little.
Philly has a 26.7 percent chance of landing the 7th pick, highest odds of any one pick.
The San Antonio Spurs fall
The entire league should be hoping for this, as the last thing we need is another top pick landing next to Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle. If the Spurs luck out and cash in their six percent chance for the number one pick, the NBA is in trouble.
The Spurs have enough high-end talent to compete for years to come, they don’t need any more.
No Central Division miracles
The Pistons have to play the other teams in the Central four times per year, so we don’t need a possible star landing in Chicago.
The Bulls have a 1.7 percent chance of landing the top pick, so it’s a long shot, but one the Bulls have experienced before when they won the Derrick Rose lottery.
The Central already had three playoff teams this year, so we should hope Chicago stays at the 12th pick and stays in NBA purgatory, as the Pistons don’t need another good team that they have to play four times.