In the first year of the new, flattened lottery system, the NBA got what it wanted.



Chaos.



During the lottery, the Lakers, who had a 9.4 percent chance of moving into the top-four, and the Grizzlies, who had a 26.3 percent chance; moved up. But the biggest stunner of them all was that the New Orleans Pelicans, who had just a six percent chance to win the lottery, did just that and will receive the rights to select the best player to enter the NBA Draft since the last time they had the No. 1 overall pick in 2012: Zion Williamson.



It’s a remarkable turn of events that will have a wide-ranging impact across the NBA over the next decade. We’ll talk about that more later. But the other thing that this does is shake up a lottery that does not have much of a consensus beyond the top-three. Here’s a quick look at what I’m projecting following what may be the most stunning lottery in league history.



1. New Orleans Pelicans — Zion...