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Grantland's Zach Lowe dropped a bombshell in early October when he reported the NBA would consider reforming its lottery system at a board of governors meeting later in the month (via NBC Sports' Dan Feldman). Lowe suggested the vote "might reach 29-1, with only Philly against."

Even the day before the meeting, Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski wrote, "Draft lottery change is coming on Wednesday, and there's no stopping it." Officials from Philadelphia and Oklahoma City, two teams opposed to the change, had reportedly "already given up on the possibility of defections to their side," per Woj.

A funny thing happened over those next 24 hours, though: A slew of defections sprung up from seemingly nowhere. Ultimately, the final vote was 17-13 in favor of the new lottery system, which fell six votes short of the number required to enact the change.

After the board of governors meeting, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver explained to reporters what caused the sudden reversal of fortune:

I think, in essence, the owners were concerned about unintended consequences. I think we all recognize we need to find the right balance between creating the appropriate incentives on one hand for teams to, of course, win, and on the other hand allowing for appropriate rebuilding and the draft to work as it should in which the worst performing teams get the highest picks in the draft.

There's no guarantee NBA owners don't do an about-face and enact a revised lottery-reform proposal within the next few months. However, given the pre-meeting reports from Lowe and Wojnarowski, the final vote from October can't be seen as anything but perhaps the biggest surprise of the NBA season to date.

All statistics via Basketball-Reference.com or NBA.com/stats and are current through Friday, Dec. 5.

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