2021 Pre-Lottery NBA Draft Order

The NBA conducted its draft tiebreakers on Tuesday, further cementing the draft order for 2021. While we’ll have to wait until the June 22 draft lottery to learn the exact order for this year’s event, we now know what most of the 60 selections look like.

Listed below is the pre-lottery 2021 NBA draft order. Each lottery team’s chances of landing the No. 1 overall pick are noted in parentheses. We’ve also included notes for picks whose status remains up in the air — for example, the Timberwolves‘ first-round pick could still technically end up with either Minnesota or the Warriors.

The second-round draft order for teams with identical regular season records is the inverse of their first-round order. So regardless of today’s tiebreakers, the exact order of a few second-round picks will hinge on next month’s lottery results.

For instance, even though the Thunder won the tiebreaker vs. the Cavaliers for the No. 4 spot in the lottery standings, Cleveland could still leapfrog Oklahoma City in the lottery, in which case the Thunder’s second-round pick would move ahead of the Cavs’ second-rounder.

We’ll provided an updated list after the June 22 lottery, once the official draft order is set, but here’s the tentative 2021 NBA draft order:


First Round:

  1. Houston Rockets (14.0%)
    • Note: The Thunder will have the ability to swap the Heat’s first-round pick (No. 18) for this selection if it falls outside of the top four.
  2. Detroit Pistons (14.0%)
  3. Orlando Magic (14.0%)
  4. Oklahoma City Thunder (11.5%)
  5. Cleveland Cavaliers (11.5%)
  6. Golden State Warriors (from Timberwolves) (9.0%)
    • Note: The Timberwolves will retain this pick if it moves into the top three.
  7. Toronto Raptors (7.5%)
  8. Orlando Magic (from Bulls) (4.5%)
    • Note: The Bulls will retain this pick if it moves into the top four.
  9. Sacramento Kings (4.5%)
  10. New Orleans Pelicans (4.5%)
  11. Charlotte Hornets (1.8%)
  12. San Antonio Spurs (1.7%)
  13. Indiana Pacers (1.0%)
  14. Golden State Warriors (0.5%)
  15. Washington Wizards
  16. Oklahoma City Thunder (from Celtics)
  17. Memphis Grizzlies
  18. Oklahoma City Thunder (from Heat)
    • Note: The Thunder will have the ability to swap this pick for the Rockets’ pick if Houston’s pick falls outside of the top four.
  19. New York Knicks
  20. Atlanta Hawks
  21. New York Knicks (from Mavericks)
  22. Los Angeles Lakers
  23. Houston Rockets (from Trail Blazers)
  24. Houston Rockets (from Bucks)
  25. Los Angeles Clippers
  26. Denver Nuggets
  27. Brooklyn Nets
  28. Philadelphia 76ers
  29. Phoenix Suns
  30. Utah Jazz

Second Round:

  1. Milwaukee Bucks (from Rockets)
  2. New York Knicks (from Pistons)
  3. Orlando Magic
  4. New Orleans Pelicans (from Cavaliers)
  5. Oklahoma City Thunder
    • Note: The Nos. 34 and 35 picks would swap places if Cleveland gets a higher first-round pick than Oklahoma City via the lottery.
  6. Oklahoma City Thunder (from Timberwolves)
  7. Detroit Pistons (from Raptors)
  8. Chicago Bulls (from Pelicans)
  9. Sacramento Kings
  10. New Orleans Pelicans (from Bulls)
    • Note: The Nos. 38, 39, and 40 picks may swap places based on the lottery results. However, the Bulls will always pick ahead of the Pelicans, since Chicago has the ability to swap second-round picks with New Orleans.
  11. San Antonio Spurs
  12. Detroit Pistons (from Hornets)
    • Note: The Nos. 41 and 42 picks would swap places if San Antonio gets a higher first-round pick than Charlotte via the lottery.
  13. New Orleans Pelicans (from Wizards)
  14. Brooklyn Nets (from Pacers)
  15. Boston Celtics
  16. Toronto Raptors (from Grizzlies)
  17. Toronto Raptors (from Warriors)
  18. Atlanta Hawks (from Heat)
  19. Brooklyn Nets (from Hawks)
  20. Philadelphia 76ers (from Knicks)
  21. Memphis Grizzlies (from Trail Blazers)
  22. Detroit Pistons (from Lakers)
  23. New Orleans Pelicans (from Mavericks)
  24. Indiana Pacers (from Bucks)
  25. Oklahoma City Thunder (from Nuggets)
  26. Charlotte Hornets (from Clippers)
  27. Charlotte Hornets (from Nets)
  28. New York Knicks (from Sixers)
  29. Brooklyn Nets (from Suns)
  30. Indiana Pacers (from Jazz)
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