SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, May 12, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — The pingpong balls didn’t bounce Utah’s way and the Jazz dropped to No. 10 in the 2024 NBA Draft Lottery on Sunday.
The Atlanta Hawks were the big winners, landing the No. 1 overall pick with just a 3% chance of doing so. The Houston Rockets also bucked the odds and received the No. 3 pick despite having just a 5.2% chance of getting it.
Utah finished with the eighth-worst record during the 2023-24 season and had just a 6.8% chance of falling to No. 10 but were leapfrogged by both Atlanta and Houston in the lottery.
The Jazz avoided falling out of the top 10, which would have sent the pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder as part of the salary-saving deal that sent Derrick Favors to Oklahoma City in 2021.
The Jazz were among the 14 teams that missed the playoffs this season, qualifying them for the lottery.
2024 NBA Draft Lottery
- 1. Atlanta Hawks
- 2. Washington Wizards
- 3. Houston Rockets
- 4. San Antonio Spurs
- 5. Detoit Pistons
- 6. Charlotte Hornets
- 7. Portland Trail Blazers
- 8. San Antonio Spurs (from Toronto)
- 9. Memphis Grizzlies
- 10. Utah Jazz
- 11. Chicago Bulls
- 12. Oklahomas City Thunder (from Houston)
- 13. Sacramento Kings
- 14. Portland Trail Blazers (from Golden State)
The draft selections for the remainder of the first round (Nos. 15-30) and the entire second round (Nos. 30-60) are determined by reverse order of regular-season record. Each NBA team gets one selection in the first round and one selection in the second round.
The Jazz sent 1983 lottery pick Thurl Bailey to Chicago to represent the team in the NBA Draft Lottery in hopes of bringing them luck.
Bailey, the No. 7 overall pick in the 1983 NBA Draft, ended up playing nine seasons with the Jazz and now works as part of Utah’s broadcast team.
Utah has never had the No. 1 overall pick but has made nine top 10 selections. The Jazz’s highest draft pick came in 1980 when they selected Darrell Griffith (Louisville).
The Jazz had the ninth, 16th, and 28th picks in the 2023 NBA Draft and selected Taylor Hendricks (Central Florida), Keyonte George (Baylor) and Brice Sensabaugh (Ohio State), respectively.
George was the most productive of the group and a starter for much of the season, averaging 13 points, 4.4 assists and 2.8 rebounds in 27 minutes per game. The 6-foot-4 guard saw action in 75 games his rookie season and scored a career-high 33 points — hitting 9 of 16 3-point attempts — against the Golden State Warriors on Feb. 15.
Hendricks, a 6-9 forward, averaged 7.3 points and 4.6 rebounds in 40 games, while Sensabaugh, a 6-5 forward, added 7.5 points and 3.2 rebounds in 32 games for the Jazz.
