by Henry Liao

The 2024 NBA draft lottery, featuring the teams that failed to make the playoffs or those that own the first-round draft selections of a non-playoff team, will be held on Monday, May 12, Manila time.

The lottery will determine the first four picks in the NBA draft set for June 27 and 28 Manila time (yes, for the first time, the draft will be a two-day affair).

The rest of the “lottery teams” will be selected in positions five through 14, in inverse order of their 2023-24 regular-season records.

The teams with the worst win-loss records during the regular wars that have the best chances of securing the No. 1 overall draft choice are Detroit (14-68), Washington (15-67), Charlotte (21-61), Portland (21-61) and San Antonio (22-60).

Charlotte won a tiebreaker with Portland, meaning the Hornets tentatively are slotted at No. 3 and the Trail Blazers are at No. 4.

Charlotte has a 13.3-percent chance of winning the draft lottery while Portland is at 13.2 percent.

Detroit (14 percent) and Washington (14 percent) both own the best odds at corralling the first pick in the draft.

The 2024 NBA grab-bag is modestly weak but some prospects have the potential to become impact players down the road.

On top of the list are: center Donovan Clingan of the back-to-back reigning NCAA champion University of Connecticut, guard Reed Sheppard of the University of Kentucky, 7-foot, 18-year-old French Alex Starr, who starred for the Perth Wildcats in Australia’s National Basketball League (NBL); 7-4 Toronto-born Zach Edey, the unanimous two-time National College Player of the Year out of NCAA tournament runner-up Purdue and a member of Canada’s bronze medal-winning team in the FIBA World Cup in Manila last year; and 19-year-old, 6-10small forward Zaccharie Risacher of JL Bourg-en-Bresse of the French League who hails from Malaga, Spain.