The Phoenix Suns lost the tie-breaker for the NBA Draft Lottery

The NBA Draft Lottery tie-breakers have taken place, and the Cleveland Cavaliers won over the Phoenix Suns.

Having won the NBA Lottery last season and the right to select Deandre Ayton, the Phoenix Suns have just lost the lottery tie-breaker to the Cleveland Cavaliers, meaning if neither team moves up in the lottery, or both teams are equally jumped ahead of, than the Cavaliers will pick one spot ahead of Phoenix.

Six individual ping pong balls, three each with the logo of the Phoenix Suns and the Cleveland Cavaliers (who finished the regular season with equal 19-63 records) were dropped into a bingo machine and bounced around for a few moments before a single ball was jetted to the top of the tube and thus the tie-breaking selection was made.

Phoenix Suns

This technically means that the Phoenix Suns will pick “third,” however both teams remain tied for the highest odds in the lottery with the best chance of selecting first overall pick (14.0%) along with the New York Knicks.

That said, should the unthinkable happen and four teams in the lottery jump the Suns, they can finish as low as 7th overall.

Of course the great prize at the top of the draft is Duke’s uber-star Zion Williamson, a power forward often compared to both LeBron James and Charles Barkley. Zion would fill one of the two major holes in their starting lineup and likely inject a level of excitement not seen since the acquisition of Sir Charles himself.

Zion would make the Suns instantly more nationally recognizable (and watchable), and the grouping of he with Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton would make Phoenix a true competitor for the 2020 playoffs.

If Phoenix does not finish with the top pick, however, and manages to at least move up to the second overall spot, then the next prize is Murray State point guard Ja Morant, who would fill the other gaping whole in the Suns’ starting lineup – point guard.

At 6’3″, Morant has the kind of size that would best fit next to 6’7″ shooting guard Devin Booker, size in the backcourt that Booker has not had in a regular starting point guard in his entire career.

Of course, if the Suns fall to below the top-two than things get a little trickier in who they might target as the next best player is shooting guard RJ Barrett.

Beyond him, nobody yet appears to be the kind of impact player that a team like the Phoenix Suns so desperately need.

At this point, all hopes should lie on Phoenix winning the Lottery for the second consecutive season, something that has happened twice in the lottery’s existence (1992 and 1993, Orlando, and 2013 and 2014, Cleveland).