NEW YORK – The NBA Board of Governors today approved a new NBA Draft Lottery system designed to eliminate incentives for teams to prioritize their position in the Draft over winning games.
The “3-2-1 Lottery” expands the lottery from 14 to 16 teams and flattens odds among teams that do not qualify for the NBA Playoffs or NBA Play-In Tournament. The new system will take effect beginning with the 2027 NBA Draft.
Key Elements of the 3-2-1 Lottery
• Flattened Odds and Draft Relegation: Each team participating in the Draft Lottery will receive three, two or one lottery ball for the drawing. Teams that do not qualify for the NBA Playoffs or NBA Play-In Tournament will receive three lottery balls each, except that – to provide an increased incentive to win – the teams with the three worst records will be “draft relegated” and lose one of their lottery balls. The No. 9 and No. 10 Play-In seeds in each conference will receive two lottery balls each, while the losers of the No. 7 vs. No. 8 Play-In games in each conference will receive one lottery ball each.
• Lottery Drawing: Lottery balls allocated to all 16 participating teams will be drawn to determine the order of selection for the first 16 picks in the first round of the NBA Draft.
• Pick Floors: Each draft-relegated team will receive, at worst, the No. 12 pick in the NBA Draft. All other lottery teams can fall as far as the No. 16 pick.
• Pick Restrictions: No team’s pick will be permitted to be the first pick in two consecutive NBA Drafts or a top-five pick in three consecutive NBA Drafts. These restrictions will apply only to each team’s own pick without regard to whether that pick has been retained by the team or traded to (and thus held by) another team.
• Pick Protections: Teams will be unable to attach top-12 through top-15 protections to newly traded draft picks.
• Discipline: The league will have expanded disciplinary authority to address tanking, including the ability to reduce teams’ lottery odds, modify teams’ draft positions and impose significant fines on offending teams.
Since October, the league office has met with key stakeholders to discuss current competitive incentives and solicit ideas aimed at discouraging tanking. That process led to the creation of the 3-2-1 Lottery.
The 3-2-1 Lottery will be in effect for the 2027, 2028 and 2029 NBA Drafts. Rules governing selection order beginning with the 2030 NBA Draft will be determined by a vote of the Board of Governors.
