NBA 2023 Draft Lottery: Which teams are best placed to tank for Wembanyama?

As we approach the midway point of the NBA season and the All-Star break, the tanking teams are starting to emerge and beginning to stake their claim for the top pick in the 2023 NBA Draft.

There are those with an eye on the top prize, like Boston, Milwaukee and Denver who’ll look to manage their way to home court advantage in the first round of the finals, while at the other end of the spectrum teams are already looking ahead of the 2023 NBA Lottery.

Specially to once-in-a-generation talent Victor Wembanyama.

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA = UNSTOPPABLE 😳pic.twitter.com/icBRNnPcPN

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) December 30, 2022

At time of writing, Victor Wembanyama is averaging 22.4 points, 9.6 rebounds and 3.1 blocks in 16 games for Metropolitans in the first division of French basketball. He can handle the ball, projects to be a good shooter from outside and is unstoppable around the rim.

CHARLOTTE HORNETS

The Hornets have won 11 of their first 44 games, owning the second-worst record in the league with the third-worst shooting percentage in the league (45%).

In fact, the Stats Insider NBA Futures Model has Charlotte as a 0.1% chance of winning the East, the second lowest of any team.

Further underlining how far the Hornets have fell since making the play-in tournament last season, Charlotte has conceded the third-most points in the NBA (118.7) points per game), with their opponents shooting at 48.1%, good enough for sixth-highest.

With LaMelo Ball running point, there were hopes that the team would at least hold steady following 43 wins last season. Instead, the return of Steve Clifford as coach has seen this team suffer greatly.

Sure, Ball’s injury absences have played a part, but it’s a stagnant team on offence and one that simply can’t compete defensively.

Giving themselves the best possible odds to draft Wembenyama is crucial, with no team in more need of a franchise-changing big man more than the Hornets. 

The Charlotte Hornets are $7.50 with Bet355 to win the 2023 NBA Lottery

SAN ANTONIO SPURS

Owning the fourth-worst record in the NBA at the end of the season would see the Spurs with only a 12.5% chance of ending up with the top pick, which will absolutely see legendary coach Gregg Popovich pull some strings going forward.

They have the worst net rating in the entire league and only two players are averaging more than 30 minutes a game – one of whom is Devin Vassell, who has been shutdown for a little while following knee surgery.

Indeed, we can expect to see the likes of Keldon Johnson, the team’s best player, rested more often, with Tre Jones developing his lead guard skills, and the likes of Jeremy Sochan, Malaki Branham and Blake Wesley receiving more starting opportunities.

The Spurs will are moving towards a more youthful approach and as has been said for decades in the NBA, young players are simply not winners.

This is echoed by the Stats Insider NBA Futures Model, which rates the Spurs as a 0.1% chance of winning the West, trailed only by Detroit.

They’ll make a decision on Jakob Poeltl going forward, but Popovich has had a history of doing well with French recruits and a new face of the franchise might just be what the 27-year head coach ordered, particularly given they get monstered in the paint on a nightly basis.

The San Antonio Spurs are $8.00 with Bet355 to win the 2023 NBA Lottery

⭐️Prospect of the Night!⭐️

Victor Wembanyama.

Even his “bad” games show why he’s about to break the NBA.

15 points and 9 rebounds.

5 blocks and 1 steal.

7-7 on free throws (30-31 in his last five games!).

And he just turned 19 last week.pic.twitter.com/VMA9cbRyMD

— Matt Lawson (@NBADynastyADP) January 10, 2023

Houston Rockets

The Rockets are the worst team in the NBA. 

They can’t shoot, their movement on offence is poor and results in a lot of “hero ball” from individuals, they turn the ball over constantly and can’t defend the transition after doing so and their defensive rating stinks overall.

Perhaps it’s tough on young coach Stephen Silas, but the league is ruthless and whether he’s there to steer the ship after this draft is an unknown bordering on unlikely.

None of this is surprising, given the youthful path they’ve gone down, but the NBA is a hub for scapegoats.

The thing about Houston is that individually, there’s talent. Jalen Green has superstar potential, Jabari Smith Jr was one of the youngest player in the 2022 draft and recently had the best game of his career against Sacramento (27 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks), while Alperen Sengun is has strings to his bow offensively that we see in perhaps only Nikola Jokic.

Consider just what adding Wembanyama would do to this franchise. Having both Green and the young Frenchman gives the Rockets a duo with genuine superstar potential.

The Houston Rockets are $7.50 with Bet355 to win the 2023 NBA Lottery

Victor Wembanyama game-winning putback dunk with 3.5 seconds to take down his former team ASVEL 84-83. pic.twitter.com/rFNppFug2R

— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) January 9, 2023

Chicago Bulls

Every season without fail, a team ends up calling it a day and orchestrating a meteoric fall down the standings in a bid to get as high a pick as possible.

Generally, it’s either done through trade or injury and on paper, Chicago looks like a team that could be involved.

Whether teams would want to take on the contracts of Nikola Vucevic and Demar DeRozan is a separate matter, although we’ve already seen the latter miss a couple of games this season.

The Bulls went for glory and it resulted in a heavy first round exit last season, and a losing record after 44 games this season.

The kicker here is that unless the Bulls get a top four pick in the lottery, they have to pass their pick over to Orlando as part of the Vucevic trade. 

Now would be the perfect time to tank for the Bulls, with the Stats Insider NBA Futures Model giving them only a 0.6% chance of winning the East.

With a deep playoff run highly unlikely, the best course of action for the Bulls would be to cut their losses and start fresh.

The Chicago Bulls are $19.00 with Bet355 to win the 2023 NBA Lottery

Victor Wembanyama is out here looking like Mr. Fantastic pic.twitter.com/3aMksOJXFz

— row well and live (@thinkingbayonet) January 16, 2023

Utah Jazz

When the Jazz traded Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, the consensus thought they’d become a bad basketball team.

Lauri Markkanen becoming an all-star calibre player, resulting in the team owning a winning record only until very recently, where their offence made up for conceding the fifth-most points in the league, and the third-most in the paint.

Despite their hot start to the 2022/23 campaign, the Stats Insider NBA Futures Model still only rates Utah as a 0.9% chance of winning the West, with only four teams lower than the Jazz in the probabilities.

They backed their own French centre in Gobert for so long, that having an equal-level defender with incredible upside offensively seems worth pursuing.

Maybe Jordan Clarkson, Kelly Olynyk and Malik Beasley have been a getting big minutes in order to pump up their trade value, or maybe they’re part of the future.

Either way, if the Jazz want to truly reach any great heights and start using their incredible draft hauls from Cleveland and Minnesota, tanking from this point and increasing their shot at Wembanyama is the right way to start.

The Utah Jazz are $26.00 with Bet355 to win the 2023 NBA Lottery

 (Photo by Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images)