2018 NBA Draft Lottery: How to watch on TV and online

The most important ping pong balls in sports take center stage for the 2018 NBA Draft Lottery on Tuesday night. Teams will be anxiously awaiting to learn where they’re picking after disappointing seasons that ended outside the playoffs.

ESPN will broadcast the reveal of the lottery results live starting at 6:30 p.m. CT prior to Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals. WatchESPN will also provide a live stream of the coverage online.

The annual lottery is the NBA’s way of giving non-playoff teams a shot at the top overall pick in the draft. Teams are given varying amount of odds based on the regular season standings, then luck takes over as everyone crosses their fingers hoping to land at the top of the draft order.

The Suns, coming off a league-worst 21-61 campaign, hold the top odds for this year’s lottery at 25 percent. They’re followed by the Grizzlies (19.9 percent), Mavericks (13.8 percent), Hawks (13.7 percent) and Magic (8.8 percent) with the best probabilities of going No. 1. All of those teams have at least a 29 percent chance of landing in the top three.

Top prizes in this year’s draft class include Slovenia’s Luka Doncic, Arizona’s DeAndre Ayton, Michigan State’s Jaren Jackson Jr. and Duke’s Marvin Bagley III. Whichever team wins the No. 1 overall pick will have its choice of that crop at the draft on June 21. Read more from Joe Cowley on who he thinks the Bulls should target and avoid.

Here’s how to tune into this year’s lottery.

2018 NBA Draft Lottery

Time: 7:30 p.m. ET | 6:30 p.m. CT

TV: ESPN

Live stream: WatchESPN