Atlanta is hoping for a better chance in the NBA draft than it has historically gotten on Sunday

For the first time since 2020, the Atlanta Hawks find themselves in the NBA Draft Lottery. Their season started with high hopes, but it was a frustrating and disappointing season for Atlanta and ended with a loss in the NBA Play-In tournament. As this offseason begins, much of the talk around the Hawks is centered around the possibility of trading Trae Young or Dejounte Murray, sending the franchise in a different direction. The trade for Murray didn’t really work out and it’s probably best for Atlanta to make a move there.

But before that, there’s the NBA Draft and the Hawks will find out where they pick this Sunday in the NBA Draft Lottery. Atlanta’s position heading into the draft is 10th and they could pick as low as 12th. The Hawks have a 13.9 percent chance of a top-four finish and a 3 percent chance of landing the No. 1 overall pick. If you don’t hear Atlanta’s name called by the No. 10 pick, that means they’ve moved up and will be picking somewhere in the top four.

History suggests that won’t happen.

The Hawks are a franchise that has spent a lot of money on the NBA Draft Lottery since its inception, with this year being the 15th time Atlanta will participate in the lottery since 1985. Of the 14 times Atlanta has participated in the NBA Draft Lottery , they only advanced four times and never improved their position before the draft by more than two places. They left their pre-draft position five times and stayed the same five times.

The last two times the Hawks entered the lottery were in 2020 and 2019 and in 2020 they came in with the 4th best odds in the lottery and it was a draft that would include Timberwolves superstar Anthony Edwards. Instead of staying in the top four or moving up to No. 1 to get Edwards, Atlanta dropped two spots to No. 6 and selected Onyeka Okongwu, who has become a good player for them. Still, with any luck in the lottery, the future of the Hawks franchise looks much different than it does today if they could have gotten Edwards.

In 2019, Atlanta came in with the 5th best chance of winning the lottery and in that draft was Duke superstar Zion Williamson, who would have paired wonderfully with Young for the future. Instead, the Hawks fell three spots to No. 8, where they would later trade up for the No. 4 pick and select De’Andre Hunter, who had some upside for the Hawks but had some scoring issues. injuries and consistency throughout his career. time in Atlanta.

While this wouldn’t be considered a strong draft pick at the top compared to previous years, it would be a plus for the Hawks if they can find a way to move into the top four of the draft or even get the No. 1 pick. °1. They could use this pick as a bargaining chip to put talent around one of the guards they decide to build around or they could take a player who could help them. Having a top-four pick is better than having a No. 10 pick and would make an interesting offseason even more interesting in Atlanta.

History, however, suggests not getting your hopes up too high for how the Atlanta Hawks will fare in this year’s NBA draft lottery.