Even though they aren’t taking part in postseason play, the Orlando Magic and their draft-day plans will be impacted by how the play-in tournament ends.
The Chicago Bulls, who may owe the Magic a first-round pick in June’s draft, will match up against the Heat in Miami while the Minnesota Timberwolves host the Oklahoma City Thunder Friday to close out the tournament.
The winners of each game will become the No. 8 seed for their respective conference’s playoff bracket.
The Bulls owe the Magic a first-round pick as part of the March 2021 trade that sent Nikola Vucevic and Al-Farouq Aminu to Chicago for Wendell Carter Jr., Otto Porter Jr., a 2021 first-round pick (which became Franz Wagner, the No. 8 pick) and a 2023 first-round pick that’s protected for selections Nos. 1-4 in 2023 and 1-3 in 2024.
If the pick hasn’t been conveyed to the Magic by 2024, then the Bulls will instead send their 2026 second-round pick and 2027 second-round pick to Orlando.
Friday will bring clarity to what happens with that first-round pick.
If the Bulls beat the Heat and the Thunder drop their game to the Timberwolves, Chicago will finish No. 15 in the overall standings and the Bulls will send the Magic the No. 15 pick in June 23 draft.
If the Bulls and Thunder win Friday, Chicago and Oklahoma City will finish tied for the Nos. 15 and 16 spots in the standings. The league is holding a drawing to break all ties in the standings on Monday, a league spokesperson told the Orlando Sentinel. The Bulls would send the Magic either the No. 15 or No. 16 pick in this scenario.
If both Chicago loses and Oklahoma City wins, the Bulls would finish in sole place of No. 11 in the standings and their first-rounder would have the 11th-best odds of being the No. 1 pick. If the pick landed inside the top four in the lottery, the Bulls keep the first-rounder. The pick would have an 8.5% chance of landing inside the top four.
If the Bulls and Thunder drop Friday’s games, they’d finish the season tied for Nos. 11-12 and the tie would be broken Monday. The team that finishes at No. 12 has an 8.1% chance of landing a top-four pick in the lottery.
The Magic, who finished the season 34-48, also have their own first-round draft pick that’ll have the sixth-best odds of becoming the No. 1 pick in the May 16 draft lottery.
According to Tankathon, Orlando’s odds will be:
They also have their own second-round pick, slotted at No. 36.
This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Khobi Price at khprice@orlandosentinel.com or follow him on Twitter at @khobi_price.
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