On April 16, 2022, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs have completely ended, and the Timberwolves and Pelicans on the Western side have entered the playoffs, while the Eastern Eagles and Nets have finally entered the playoffs! In the playoffs, the two teams in the Eighth Place in the East and West are still relatively unfortunate, and the Clippers of the West and the Cavaliers of the East are missing the final playoff games!
In the Eastern Conference, because the Cavaliers missed the playoffs, the Nets' draft pick this year was determined to be the seventeenth pick in the first round, which is still very favorable for the rebuilding Rockets! Previously, in Harden's trade, the Rockets got an unprotected first-round pick for this year's Nets!
For the Rockets, probably no one expected the Nets signing in the Harden trade to be valuable so quickly, the original Harden, Irving and Durant's three superstar teams, at least in the top four teams in the East, even have a great chance to impact the championship. But unexpectedly, Irving's vaccine problem, Harden's mid-season departure, durant's injury, caused the Nets to be very difficult, and finally only won the seventh place in the East in the regular season.
The Rockets' ability to use the Nets to pick the player with the seventeenth pick this season is really a bonus, the Rockets' own record this season is the bottom of the league, their first-round picks are guaranteed to be in the top five, and there is a 14% chance of being able to draw the pick, so next season the team will have good young people enter the team, which is still very important for this team that is in the process of rebuilding!
This year's lottery ceremony will take place in Chicago on May 17, and the draft will be held on June 23 at the Barclays Center, I don't know what the Rockets will gain!