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The Utah Jazz officially have another competitor when it comes to the battle for a high lottery pick in the upcoming NBA draft.
On Friday, the Philadelphia 76ers announced what many had expected — that Joel Embiid will miss the remainder of the season due to his ailing left knee. While this was a formality, and the Sixers have been in a free fall recently (losing the last nine games) it does make it official that the team won’t be pursuing a postseason berth or trying to collect wins.
And, since the Sixers would owe a pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder this year if their first-rounder falls out of the top six, you can absolutely expect for them to try to lose out from here til the end of the regular season.
As of this writing, the Jazz are tied with the Charlotte Hornets for the third-worst record in the league, behind the Washington Wizards. That’s right where the Jazz want to be. But the New Orleans Pelicans, Toronto Raptors and now the Sixers, are still breathing down the necks of the worst teams when it comes to racking up losses.
While it is unlikely that the Sixers would catch the Jazz in pursuit of one of the three worst records, the draft protections the Sixers are navigating, do make them dangerous in terms of the lottery.
Often a team that is outside of the top four in terms of lottery odds, gets lucky and hops into one of the coveted top-four spots during the lottery drawing. If the Sixers were to finish the season with the sixth-worst record, but get leapfrogged in the lottery drawing, that would push them down to seventh, which would mean their top-six protected pick would go to OKC.
Because of that, they’ll no doubt be aiming for a bottom-five finish to the season to give them a little bit of a buffer during the lottery. That means the other teams at the bottom of the standings will be trying to keep them from getting into that top-five lottery space.
It just makes things a little more interesting and tight when it comes to jockeying for position as far as the draft is concerned.
New with the Jazz
Quote of the week
“I don’t like easy shots.” — Jordan Clarkson
From the archives
Extra points
- Kyle Filipowski has changed his shot and is starting to show signs of growth (Deseret News)
- KJ Martin makes his Utah Jazz debut after being sidelined for 2 months (Deseret News)
- Keyonte George scores 30 in Jazz win over Rockets (Deseret News)
Around the league
- Gregg Popovich will not return this season for Spurs.
- Zion Williamson notches first career triple-double.
- Knicks' Mitchell Robinson nearing a return.
Up next
- March 2 | 7 p.m. MST | Utah Jazz vs. New Orleans Pelicans | KJZZ
- March 3 | 7 p.m. MST | Utah Jazz vs. Detroit Pistons | KJZZ
- March 5 | 7:30 p.m. MST | Utah Jazz @ Washington Wizards | KJZZ
- March 7 | 7:30 p.m. MST | Utah Jazz @ Toronto Raptors | KJZZ