Instant Reaction: 3 ways the shocking NBA draft lottery results impact Nuggets future

The 2024 NBA Draft Lottery took place on Sunday afternoon ahead of the Knicks at Pacers second-round matchup on ABC. The lottery determines the order for the top 14 picks of the upcoming NBA draft next month. The results sent shockwaves through the NBA.

The big shocker and biggest winner has to be the Atlanta Hawks, who secured the #1 overall pick in the draft while having the 10th best odds - only 3%. On the other end of the spectrum, the Detroit Pistons have to be seen as the big losers, having now finished with the worst record in the league in back-to-back years, but ending up with only the 5th overall pick in consecutive drafts - their worst possible outcome.

Obviously, the Nuggets are still battling in the playoffs, and the draft lottery is far from their minds at the moment. But the results still have a major effect on some competing teams in the Western Conference. Everything that happens around the NBA tends to have an indirect impact on almost every other team, and the Nuggets are no exception.

So on the surface, the lottery may not have appeared to be particularly consequential for the Nuggets. But here are three ways that Sunday’s results could alter the future of the Denver Nuggets.

#1.) The Thunder add another lottery pick

Should the Nuggets advance to the Western Conference Finals in a week, it very well may be the Thunder there waiting for them. This young OKC team has emerged, perhaps ahead of schedule, as a legitimate contender in the West.

They got the top seed in the West this season while having one of the youngest teams in the entire league. They also have arguably the best collection of draft capital in the whole league to play with. In other words, this team has the means to be very good for a very long time. They need to manage their assets correctly, but they are in a great position to do so and contend for West titles for years to come.

And now, thanks to a previous trade with the Rockets, the Thunder have added another pick to their coffers, the #12 overall pick in this year’s draft. The only way Houston was going to keep this pick would have been if it fell in the top four, which obviously didn’t happen.

Now the Thunder can either add another good young player to their squad or use this pick as a trade chip to bolster their roster in other ways. Either way, it’s a great coup for a Thunder team on the rise. They are going to be a problem for the Nuggets for years to come.

It actually could have even been a much better day for the Thunder as they were one pick away from receiving another lottery pick from the Jazz. But that pick was protected for the top 10 and luckily for Utah, the pick landed at 10th.

#2.) Rockets gain another top 3 pick

Another young Western Conference team on the rise is the Houston Rockets. Head coach Ime Udoka came in and turned this team around along with veterans like Dillon Brooks and Fred Van Vleet. But the Rockets’ future is bright thanks to their ‘Baby Jokic’, Alperen Sengun, the sensational young big man with many similarities to Nikola Jokic.

They have a dearth of other young talents to build around, including Jalen Green, Jabari Smith, Amen Thompson, Cam Whitmore, and Tari Eason. This team is stacked with potential and could factor into contention for the Western Conference sooner rather than later.

While they had to trade away their own pick to the Thunder, the Rockets got some great news as they saw their pick from the Nets climb all the way up to #3 overall. This is an amazing and unexpected asset for the Rockets, one they can play with in a lot of different ways. 

I’m not sure the Rockets really want to add yet another young player - they are already running out of minutes for their young players. But maybe they package this pick with some combination of young players for a true superstar to add to their core. The Rockets are a move or two away from being a real threat, and this lottery lock gives them a chance to move quickly.

#3.) Spurs add two more top 8 picks

Then there is the most vaunted young up-and-coming team in the league, the San Antonio Spurs led by their generational phenom Victor Wembanyama. Even as a rookie, surrounded by an uninspiring supporting cast, we saw the wonders of Wemby and how good he can be. He had some memorable battles with Jokic and the Nuggets, including what proved to be a massive win in the regular season’s penultimate game.

It was clear that Wemby was as good as advertised and already on the verge of being one of the best players in the league. The Spurs may have to slightly rethink their strategy as they may be good enough to win with Wemby sooner than anticipated. They’ve got some other solid young players like Devin Vassell and Jeremy Sochan, plus plenty of cap room and draft capital. The Spurs have a chance to push some chips in this offseason and try to contend as soon as next season.

That mission became even more achievable on Sunday as the Spurs got rewarded with more great lottery luck. Not only did their own pick move up one spot from 5th to 4th overall, but the Raptors saw their pick fall to 8th overall, which means it now belongs to the Spurs (the pick was top 6 protected).

So along with all the other recent good fortune in San Antonio, the Spurs are now armed with two top-8 picks in the draft. They have the ammo to retool this roster around Wemby in a major way. We may well be looking at some new West challengers to the Nuggets in very short order.