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The Portland Trail Blazers will have the Nos. 15, 20, and 26 picks in the upcoming 2017 NBA draft, scheduled to take place on June 22 in New York City.
More specifically, the Blazers have their own pick, the Memphis Grizzlies’ pick (acquired via Denver in the Jusuf Nurkic trade), and the Cleveland Cavaliers’ pick (acquired in the Anderson Varejao trade).
All three teams were involved in ties in the standings at the end of the season. The league broke the ties by random draw earlier this afternoon, finalizing the Blazers’ draft positioning.
The Blazers came away from the draw as clear losers. The pick from Cleveland could have been as high as No. 23, and the Memphis pick could have been No. 19. Instead the Blazers inherited the Nos. 20 and 26 spots in the draft. They did win a draw with their own pick, however, and will pick No. 15 while the Chicago Bulls will get No. 16.
Of course the Blazers might not use all of these picks. With the team almost certain to be in the luxury tax next season, President of Basketball Operations Neil Olshey will likely pursue trade opportunities as the draft approaches.
As of now, the Blazers have no second round pick— it was surrendered to the Houston Rockets as part of a package for Thomas Robinson in 2013.
Here’s a video of the draw from the NBA’s facebook page:
Tiebreakers for 2017 NBA DraftWatch the five tiebreakers for the 2017 NBA Draft be determined LIVE from Secaucus, NJ!
Posted by NBA on Tuesday, April 18, 2017