Celtics and Lakers are the two big winners of the draft lottery

By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net

Less than 24 hours after outlasting the Washington Wizards in Game 7 to reach the Eastern Conference finals, the Celtics added to their incredible high when they and their fans got what they have waited for ever since they traded Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to the Brooklyn Nets for three first-round picks in 2013, including the right to swap picks this year with the Nets, the worst team in the NBA this season.

Boston, which also owns the Nets’ first-round pick next year, became the first team to finish with the top record in a conference and pick first overall since the Lakers drafted James Worthy first in the 1982 draft.

On the other hand, mments before the lottery began and the picks were revealed, Magic Johnson looked noticeably nervous. The Lakers had perhaps the most to lose of any team in this year’s lottery.

Had the Lakers, who had the third-best odds in the lottery, not landed in the top three, they would have had to surrender their first-round pick to the Philadelphia 76ers as part of a 2012 trade involving Steve Nash. If the Lakers had failed to pick in the top three, they also would have had to give up their 2019 first-round pick to Orlando for the Dwight Howard trade in 2012.

It’s no wonder that Johnson was practically squirming in his chair until he celebrated with a fist pump and a smile when NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum announced that the Phoenix Suns, who had the second-best odds in the draft, slipped to fourth.

Here’s a look at how the first 14 picks of the 2017 NBA draft shook out Tuesday.