How to watch the 2023 NBA Draft Lottery

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Alternate title: How to watch the Victor Wembanyama lottery

The 2023 NBA Draft Lottery is tonight.

The suggested title of the 2023 Victor Wembanyama Lottery was, apparently, rejected by the league.

However, the 7’4 Wembanyama is considered the crown jewel of the incoming draft class. The 19-year-old has been described as a generational talent, and is coming off three seasons of playing professionally in France. Not since LeBron James has an incoming player created as much buzz as Wembanyama, and with good reason.

After all, here is how our own Ricky O’Donnell described him last summer:

He has exceptional mobility for his size, not just straight line speed and lateral quickness, but also a level of agility and flexibility that is startling to see for someone with his frame. He has flashed a serious amount of skill, too, regularly splashing three-pointers, throwing eye-popping passes, and finishing plays way above the rim on both ends. The last prospect this big, this fluid, and this comfortable with the ball in his hands might be a young Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then known as Lew Alcindor, when he entered UCLA in the mid-1960s.

Wembanyama can be anything and everything. He’s going to be an incredible rim protector on defense and lob threat on offense — but that’s just tip of the iceberg. He’s already taking and making three-pointers off movement. He’s moving the ball quickly on the perimeter as a passer. He’s wiping away entire sections of the floor defensively with the threat of his shot-blocking. Wembanyama is also beginning to show traits of self-creation, hinting at the enormous outcomes that will occur when he’s not just an elite play finisher, but also a go-to shot creator.

Here is everything you need to know about tonight.

How to watch

The 2023 NBA Draft Lottery will be broadcast on Tuesday, May 16 at 8:00 p.m. ET on ESPN

What are the odds for each team?

The 14 teams that failed to qualify for the 2023 NBA playoffs are entered into the lottery, and assigned weighted odds based on their finish a season ago. Three teams — the Detroit Pistons, the San Antonio Spurs, and the Houston Rockets — are tied with the best odds, at 14%. The other 11 teams have odds that descend from the Charlotte Hornets at 12.5% to the New Orleans Pelicans at 0.5%.

Here is the full set of odds, courtesy of Tankathon:

If you are feeling particularly adventurous, you can run a simulation of the 2023 NBA Draft Lottery at Tankathon. For example, I just sent Wembanyama to the Washington Wizards through this simulation:

Who is going to represent each team?

One of the enjoyable aspects of the NBA Draft Lottery is seeing who the teams select to represent them at the lottery itself. Here is this year’s list of team representatives, including former Piston Ben Wallace, current Jazz player Collin Sexton, and incoming Rockets head coach Ime Udoka: