<P> The NBA Draft lottery is an annual event held by the National Basketball Association (NBA), in which the teams who had missed the playoffs that previous year participate in a lottery process to determine the draft order in the NBA draft . The NBA Draft lottery started in 1985 . In the NBA draft, the teams obtain the rights to amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players . The lottery winner would get the first selection in the draft . The term "lottery pick" denotes a draft pick whose position is determined through the lottery, while the non-playoff teams involved in the process are often called "lottery teams ." </P> <P> Under the current rules, only the top three picks are decided by the lottery, and are chosen from the 14 teams that do not make the playoffs . The team with the worst record, or the team that holds the draft rights of the team with the worst record, has the best chance to obtain a higher draft pick . After the top three positions are selected (from the lottery slotting system), the remainder of the first - round draft order is in inverse order of the win - loss record for the remaining teams, or the teams who originally held the lottery rights if they were traded . The lottery does not determine the draft order in the subsequent rounds of the draft . </P> <P> In the earlier drafts, the teams would draft in reverse order of their win - loss record . However, a special territorial - pick rule allowed a team to draft a player from its local area . If a team decided to use its territorial pick, it forfeited its first - round pick in the draft . The territorial pick rules remained until the NBA revamped the draft system in 1966 . </P>

Who gets the first pick in the nba draft