The Portland Trail Blazers' "ethical tanking" season didn't pay off for their draft position. The NBA Draft lottery just concluded, and not only did they miss out on a top-four pick, but they also managed to fall back to the No. 11 spot. They had just an 18.5 percent chance of that being their reality, which was essentially a worst-case scenario with just a 1.2 percent chance of slipping all the way to No. 12.
To rub salt in the wound, the Blazers missed out on their franchise savior Cooper Flagg by just one lottery ping pong ball combination.
The Dallas Mavericks' winning combination was 10-14-11-7. The Blazers had 10-14-11-6.
Unfortunately, this isn't the first time Portland came up one number short on the last number to land a generational prospect. The same exact outcome happened in 2023 when they missed out on Victor Wembanyama.
The San Antonio Spurs' winning combination was 14-5-8-2. The Blazers had 14-5-8-3.
Another draft heartbreak adds to Blazers' growing list of “what ifs”
These are the worst possible years to come up short. Webmanyama was arguably the biggest prospect since LeBron James entered the league in 2003, while Flagg had a historically dominant collegiate season for a freshman.
General manager Joe Cronin now faces a complicated decision entering an uncertain offseason for Portland. He will have to choose whether to use the No. 11 pick to add another piece to their young core or package it in a trade for the missing star who could finally return them to playoff relevancy after missing out the past four seasons.
The silver lining is that there are exactly eleven prospects who would be strong picks for the Blazers, keeping them within a tier of players with higher ceilings, fewer question marks, or better overall fit.
But unfortunately, the Blazers' history of their draft "what ifs" is deeper than just Sam Bowie and Greg Oden. Their misfortune lies not just in the selections themselves but also in the lottery leading up to the draft.
The Blazers have only moved up three times in franchise history and now have missed out on both Wembanyama and Flagg by just one final lottery ball combination.
To make matters worse, the Blazers lost these superstar talents to Western Conference teams, making it even more of a gauntlet to get through. The Blazers are in a solid spot in their rebuild with their up-and-coming pieces, but they still need to add that star to compete with teams like the Spurs, Thunder, Rockets, and now, Mavericks for the next decade.