The league-worst Pistons sliding to No. 5 in the NBA draft for a third straight year had fans calling the lottery rigged
Detroit Pistons fans need not look much further than the reaction of their very own NBA Draft lottery representative to see how disappointing the results were for their team.
After finishing the 2023-24 season with the league’s worst record to tie for the best odds to land the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, Detroit slid all the way to No. 5 at Sunday’s lottery (you can see the full order here). And if that sounds familiar, it should. The same thing happened last year when Detroit picked fifth after finishing the 2022-23 season with the worst record. It happened the year before too, when Detroit was again tied for best odds to pick No. 1 overall after finishing with the league’s third-worst record — and ended up fifth.
The team’s fans couldn’t do anything but assume it all must be rigged.
Also see: NBA Mock Draft 7.0