Washington wins NBA draft lottery, chance to pick No. 1 overall on June 23

CHICAGO - The league's worst team this season is getting the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft.

The Washington Wizards won the draft lottery on Sunday and are poised to pick No. 1 overall for the first time since choosing John Wall in that spot in 2010. Wall was the Wizards' on-stage representative for the lottery.

What we know:

Washington had a 14% chance of winning No. 1, tied with the Brooklyn Nets and the Indiana Pacers for the best odds. The Wizards had basically a 50-50 chance of getting either a top-four pick or the No. 5 spot.

But three consecutive years of losing — the three worst seasons in the franchise's 65-year history — finally paid off Sunday for the Wizards, who went 17-65 this season and even allowed Bam Adebayo to score 83 points for the league's second-highest single-game total ever.

The Wizards swung deals to land Trae Young and Anthony Davis last season, and now they have a chance to add an immediate impact player with the No. 1 pick.

The Utah Jazz will pick No. 2, the Memphis Grizzlies will pick No. 3 and the Chicago Bulls will pick No. 4.

The Los Angeles Clippers got the fifth pick, followed by No. 6 Brooklyn Nets, No. 7 Sacramento Kings, No. 8 Atlanta Hawks, No. 9 Dallas Mavericks, No. 10 Milwaukee Bucks, No. 11 Golden State Warriors, No. 12 Oklahoma City Thunder, No. 13 Miami Heat and No. 14 Charlotte Hornets.

The draft begins June 23 in New York City. The draft combine in Chicago starts on Monday.

No. 1 pick possibilities

There are four candidates generally considered front-runners to be the No. 1 pick, all entering the draft after their freshman years of college:

• AJ Dybantsa of Brigham Young University, who led the nation in scoring at 25.5 points per game in his lone college season.

• Cameron Boozer of Duke University, the AP player of the year who averaged 22.5 points and 10.1 rebounds.

• Darryn Peterson of University of Kansas, who averaged 20.2 points in 24 games.

• Caleb Wilson of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who averaged 19.8 points and 9.4 rebounds on 58% shooting.

All four players, along with a few other likely first-round selections, were among those in the studio for Sunday’s lottery announcement at Navy Pier.

What they're saying:

"Standing here is kind of crazy," Dybantsa said. "One of these teams is going to be home."

This was the eighth — and likely final — year of this version of the NBA Draft lottery, with the worst teams having a 14% chance of winning.

Framework fell into place last month on changes meant to further discourage tanking, and the league’s Board of Governors is expected to ratify that plan in the next few weeks, with general managers meeting in Chicago on Tuesday to discuss them, presumably for one last time.

The three worst teams, starting next season, would have a 5.4% chance of winning, while the next seven teams would each have an 8.1% chance. The lottery would also grow from 14 to 16 teams if the plan, as expected, is approved.