Overview
- The league has circulated an updated ‘3-2-1’ lottery proposal to team owners for a Board of Governors vote, with the plan largely unchanged from earlier drafts.
- The system would expand the lottery to 16 teams, use a flattened 37-ball draw to set the top 16 picks, and create a relegation zone for the three worst records.
- The NBA added two repeat-pick rules that bar a team from winning the No. 1 pick in back-to-back drafts and from landing top-five picks three years in a row.
- If a prohibited team’s lottery ball is drawn, that selection would be moved down to the next allowable slot, and the restrictions apply to the team that originally owned the pick.
- Those ownership-based clarifications could materially affect the market for traded first-rounders and how front offices structure deals if the plan, which the league has said would start in 2027 and be reviewed after 2029, is approved.