New Orleans Pelicans Win 2019 NBA Draft Lottery

The New Orleans Pelicans have won the 2019 NBA Draft lottery and, presumably, the right to draft Duke star Zion Williamson.

The full order is out and the Pelicans were the big winners this year as they had a 6.0 percent chance to land the top pick. The Memphis Grizzlies landed the second pick, while the New York Knicks wound up third, the Los Angeles Lakers are fourth and the Cleveland Cavaliers are at No. 5.

The big losers on the night were the Phoenix Suns and Chicago Bulls. The suns had a 14.0 percent chance to wind up with the top pick, which was the highest percentage available. They wound up dropping to the sixth pick. Meanwhile, the Bulls had a 12.5 percent chance (fourth-best odds) at landing the top pick and fell all the way to seventh.

The Atlanta Hawks and Washington Wizards were also big losers. The Hawks had a fifth-best odds at 10.5 percent and they tumbled all the way to the eighth pick, While the Wizards had the sixth-best odds (9.0 percent) and dropped to ninth.

The new lottery system clearly had a huge impact on the results, as teams that tanked big-time wound up not being rewarded. Meanwhile, the Lakers (who had just the 11th-best odds) moved up seven spots.