Luck didn’t fall in the Chicago Bulls’ favor Tuesday night in the NBA draft lottery at McCormick Place.
The Bulls didn’t land a top-four pick — and as a result, they won’t have a first-round pick at all this year. They must relinquish their first-round selection — which wound up being No. 11 — to the Orlando Magic as the final stipulation in the 2021 trade for center Nikola Vučević. The pick was top-four protected in this year’s draft.
The San Antonio Spurs received the No. 1 pick, which they almost certainly will use on highly touted French prospect Victor Wambanyama.
The odds were never in the Bulls’ favor — they had only a 2.5% chance of landing the No. 4 pick, a 2.21% chance at No. 3, a 1.98% chance at No. 2 and a 1.8% chance of getting the top pick.
The structure of the draft lottery created a wide chasm between victory and defeat for the Bulls. They could not receive any pick between No. 5 and No. 10, limiting them to either a shot at a top prospect such as Wembanyama, Brandon Miller or Scoot Henderson or ceding their pick to the Magic.
There is time for the Bulls to trade back up into the first round, but their trade capital is limited, especially because of the continued uncertainty surrounding Lonzo Ball’s knee injury.
The NBA draft will take place June 22 in New York.
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