The annual National Basketball Association (NBA) draft lottery determines the order in which the teams that did not make the playoffs in the preceding season get to select players in the upcoming NBA draft. For example, in a given year, fourteen teams that missed the playoffs participate, and the lottery decides which of those teams will have the first overall pick, the second overall pick, and so on, down to the fourteenth pick.
This system aims to promote competitive balance within the league. By giving the teams with the poorest records a better chance at acquiring promising young talent, the lottery attempts to prevent any single team from dominating the league for an extended period. Its implementation arose from concerns that teams might deliberately lose games (a practice known as tanking) to secure a higher draft pick; the lottery introduces an element of chance to discourage this behavior.