Chicago Sun Times

● By Joe Cowley
While the Bulls stayed mathematically pat, a couple of teams hit lottery gold. Or perhaps lottery copper, in the case of the 2024 class. The Hawks were the big winner, nabbing the No. 1 pick despite a 3% chance, and the Rockets jumped six spots to No. 3. The loser? The lowly Pistons, of course. They finished the regular season with the worst record at 14-68 but fell out of the top four to No. 5.

Top Players Not Included

These players appear in the top 14 of our

Consensus Big Board

, but do not show up in this mock.