The 2011 NBA Draft Lottery is Tuesday night (ESPN, 8:30 p.m.) in Secaucus, N.J., meaning the fates of 14 NBA franchises hang on the bounces of some ping pong balls. The New York Knicks don't have a dog in the fight here, as they pick 17th in the Jun 23rd NBA Draft. Our Chris Celletti details how that might be a good thing, considering the Knicks' history in the lottery. The New Jersey Nets will also on the sidelines tonight. They traded their No. 1 pick to Utah in the Deron Williams deal, and will pick 27th in the first round.
How do those ping pong balls work? Well, there aren't 1,000 of them placed in a big hopper and pulled out at random. The NBA uses a complicated mathematical formula I can't explain. If you have a need to know the deep, dark secrets of the formula, you can find an explanation here. Then again, maybe that will just make your brain hurt.
Maybe you should just tune in to find out what happens. Or come back here later this evening and we will tell you.
2011 NBA Draft Lottery Odds (from NBA.com)
| TEAM | RECORD | LOTTERY CHANCES (out of 100) | PERCENT |
| Minnesota | 17-65 | 250 | 25% |
| Cleveland | 19-63 | 199 | 19.9% |
| Toronto | 22-60 | 156 | 15.6% |
| Washington | 23-59 | 119 | 11.9% |
| Sacramento | 24-58 | 76 | 7.6% |
| Utah (from New Jersey) | 24-58 | 75 | 7.5% |
| Detroit | 30-52 | 43 | 4.3% |
| Cleveland (from L.A. Clippers) | 32-50 | 28 | 2.8% |
| Charlotte | 34-48 | 17 | 1.7% |
| Milwaukee | 35-47 | 11 | 1.1% |
| Golden State | 36-46 | 8 | 0.8% |
| Utah | 39-43 | 7 | 0.7% |
| Phoenix | 40-42 | 6 | 0.6% |
| Houston | 43-39 | 5 | 0.5% |