The Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder finally get it on tonight at 8:00 CDT for Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, but the intrigue begins in the pregame with the NBA Draft Lottery. The 2011 NBA draft order will be determined with the draft lottery start time of 7:30 CDT. The festivities will be shown on ESPN.
Current draft order, with percent chance of winning the first pick:
1. Minnesota Timberwolves – 25.0%
2. Cleveland Cavaliers – 19.9%
3. Toronto Raptors – 15.6%
4. Washington Wizards – 11.9%
5. Sacramento Kings – 7.6%
6. Utah Jazz – 7.5%
7. Detroit Pistons – 4.3%
8. Cleveland Cavaliers – 2.8%
9. Charlotte Bobcats – 1.7%
10. Milwaukee Bucks – 1.1%
11. Golden State Warriors – 0.8%
12. Utah Jazz – 0.7%
13. Phoenix Suns – 0.6%
14. Houston Rockets – 0.5%
The current Draft Express 2011 NBA mock draft projects Kyrie Irving first and Turkish big man Enes Kanter second. That could all change when the order is finalized, and SB Nation will post their next mock draft after the draft order is determined.
Check out ESPN’s lottery generator to see how some possible combinations could work out, and of course stay tuned to ESPN for Game 1 immediately after the lottery.