Morning Sixers – Wednesday, February 22nd, 2017

“Should Sixers fans hope that teams like the Magic win games and pass the Kings in the standings or lose games and be passed by the Lakers?”

— Adam

This was in response to our discussion on the latest Sixers Beat podcast about how far the Kings could fall in the standings after the DeMarcus Cousins trade. Adam emailed me taking the other side of the argument, and the point was fair and worthy of a debate, so I turned it into a mailbag column.

As Adam pointed out, these two goals (get Sacramento as many ping pong balls as possible, increases the chance that the Lakers pick conveys this year) can be competing, at least if Sacramento gets into the 4th/5th worst record range.

Let’s take a look at some quick probabilities. Once again, lotterybucket.com is a tremendous help in this regard.

* If the Lakers finish with the 2nd worst record (I’m considering Brooklyn a lock for worst), the Sixers would have a 44.1% chance at getting the Lakers pick.

* If the Lakers finish with the 3rd worst record (their current position), the Sixers would have a 53.1% chance of getting it.

* With the 4th worst record, the Sixers would have a 62.2% chance.

* 5th worst = 70.8% chance.

(Considering the Lou Williams trade and the Lakers’ recent play, anything below this I consider highly improbable. Realistically, we’re probably talking about 2/3/4 here).

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