Now All Philadelphia 76ers Fans Can Be Optimistic

Plenty of Draft Picks to Use Trade or Defer

Even the most fundamental rebuild believers among us know we are flirting with too much of a good thing.  We have three or four draft picks in a year when many experts are simply not that high on this draft.

Sometimes that happens.

But what this draft does have are two things… or prospects.. who may not be sure fire elite but have certainly have enjoyed some very optimistic NBA projections:  Ben Simmons and Brandon Ingram.

The Philadelphia 76ers have multiple opportunities to smile on the outcome of the 2016 NBA Draft lottery.  They have the best chances on any team this year of landing a pick in the top two of the NBA draft– with odds at 46.5%.  The next team is the Los Angeles Lakers, who have a 38.7% chance of ending up in the top two.

But the Lakers will either be feast or famine in this year’s draft.  If their pick ends up outside of their top three protection, which is a 44.2% chance, the Philadelphia 76ers will enjoy a second top five NBA pick.  So by nights end, the Sixers have a chance at a top four pick at a four or five pick, and the first round picks from the Miami Heat as well as the Oklahoma City Thunder at 24 and 26 respectively.

But there is more.

The Sixers have the rights to swap any draft pick with that of the Sacramento Kings.  Should the Kings end up at the first, second or third pick of the NBA draft, the Sixers are ensured of doing no worse than the Kings pick.   Right now, the Kings boast a 1.9% chance at the top overall pick and 6.8% chance at a top three pick.  If you need to see the numbers, that 6.8% chance at a top three reduces the likelihood of the Sixers ending up at four.  Without a swap, the Sixers have a 35.7% chance of ending up at four.  But with the King’s swap, that is reduced to 28.9%.

It could happen, but that’s the way the Lottery is set up after all, isn’t it?

Next: Available Salary Cap Space