Why the NBA Draft Lottery wait makes no sense

The NBA Draft Lottery is one of the league’s most important calendar events—but the timing of it continues to raise questions.

Set for Sunday, May 10 at 12 PM PT, this year’s lottery comes well after the regular season and play-in tournament have wrapped. During a recent segment on Sactown Sports’ The Carmichael Dave Show with Jason Ross, the guys couldn’t figure out why.

“It’ll be held on Sunday, May 10th. Can somebody help me here? Is there pushback? Like, why?” Dave asked. “Why not season ends, coin flips, whatever, and then, like, that weekend? Why do we have to wait until May 10?”

That question—why the delay—drove the conversation, and the reasoning didn’t seem to hold up. The only explanation discussed centered around player eligibility deadlines.

(Tankathon)

More on the NBA Draft Lottery

“The only pushback, but it’s already been resolved, is that the date was the last day players could be eligible,” Ross said.

If eligibility is already settled, the hosts argued, there’s little preventing the league from holding the lottery almost immediately after the season ends.

One theory is that the NBA stretches out the calendar for TV and adds drama, but even that didn’t fully land.

“If they wanted to, like, be on NBC on the weekend or something, okay, fine. Then do it the following weekend,” Dave proposed. “It’s dumb. I don’t want to wait another two weeks.”

The delay also creates unnecessary guesswork across the league. Without finalized lottery positions, mock drafts and projections are built on assumptions rather than certainty.

“It would just make it easier for everybody. Every mock draft I see right now, they have the Kings assuming they’re going to be in the spot they’re supposed to be in,” Dave said. “If you know where the team is picking. You can make a much more informed mock draft.”

(Photo by Steven Freeman/NBAE via Getty Images)

Complicating matters further, prospects can still withdraw from the Draft after the lottery, which weakens the argument that the league needs extra time to make player decisions.

The date for players to withdraw from the 2026 NBA Draft (while maintaining college eligibility) is May 27th. The overall withdrawal deadline for the draft is June 13th.

In the end, the conversation kept circling back to the same point—there doesn’t appear to be a clear, practical reason for the wait.

“I would just like to know why we have to wait two more stinking weeks.”

Check out the full conversation at the top of the page or by heading over to the Sactown Sports YouTube channel.

Listen to The Carmichael Dave Show with Jason Ross from 6 – 10 a.m. PDT, Monday through Friday, on Sactown Sports 1140.

More Sacramento Kings content from Sactown Sports

• Complicated changes to NBA Draft Lottery system could be coming
• NBA Draft Lottery shake-up? What it could mean for the Kings’ rebuild
• Why recent history says the 5th-best Lottery odds may help Sacramento
• Where would Keegan Murray go in a 2022 Re-Draft?

Upcoming Sacramento Kings & NBA Offseason Schedule

• Sunday, May 10th – NBA Draft Lottery
• Thursday, June 4th– NBA Finals begin
• Thursday, June 25th – NBA Draft (Round 1)
• Friday, June 26th – NBA Draft (Round 2)
• Tuesday, June 30th – NBA Free Agency negotiation period begins (3 PM PT)
• Thursday, July 9th – NBA Las Vegas Summer League begins
• Monday, July 13th – Free Agency moratorium ends / signings can become official

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