Your Sixers-related NBA Draft lottery primer

Tonight, at Disney/ABC’s Times Square Studios in New York City, the 76ers will discover their draft-night fate. They'll know the draft slot for their pick and New Orleans', and whether the Pelicans retain their selection or owe it to the Sixers as compensation for a trade last summer.

The Sixers find themselves pinning their hopes on the ping-pong balls of the NBA’s Draft lottery for the 13^th time in its 30 years of existence. Here’s a look at the mathematical odds for the Sixers’ pick in relation to particular slots in the draft:

(AP)

No. 1 … 19.9 percent

No. 2 … 18.8

No. 3 … 17.1

No. 4 … 31.9

No. 5 … 12.3

In addition to their lottery selection, the Sixers hold the rights to New Orleans’ first-round pick – assuming the Pelicans don’t win the lottery and land anywhere in the top 3. Here’s a breakdown of the Pelicans’ statistical odds in the lottery:

No. 1 … 1.1 percent

No. 2 … 1.3

No. 3 … 1.6

No. 10 … 87.0

No. 11 … 8.9

No. 12 … 0.2

No. 13 … 0.1

Other notes on the NBA Draft lottery:

• The Sixers hold potentially two lottery selections: theirs and New Orleans’. The Pelicans’ pick is top-five protected, so if they “win the lottery” and land in one of the top-three picks, they would retain it. The Sixers would be owed a top-five protected, first-round selection for the 2015 draft as future compensation.
• The Sixers’ draft-lottery representative will be Julius Erving. Last year, it was majority owner Joshua Harris.
• As the Sixers’ good luck charm, Dr. J will bring with him shards of glass from a backboard broken by Darryl Dawkins during a Dec. 5, 1979 game against San Antonio. Cherry Hill native Jake Spencer, the holder of the glass bits, had his entry selected during a team contest in conjunction with 97.5 FM The Fanatic.
• Only four times has the team with the league’s second-worst record won the lottery. The last occurrence was in 2009, with the Los Angeles Clippers. The Sixers finished with the league’s next-to-last mark, at 19-63.
• Only once have the Sixers won the lottery. That was in 1996, when they moved from No. 2 to No. 1 and selected Allen Iverson.