The Utah Hockey Club got lucky during the NHL draft lottery.
Now Ryan Smith is hoping his basketball team can follow suit.
After the worst season in franchise history, the Utah Jazz have a 14.1% chance of winning the No. 1 pick in Monday’s NBA draft lottery. That’s tied with the Washington Wizards and Charlotte Hornets for the best odds at the top selection.
Co-owner Ashley Smith will represent the Jazz on stage at the lottery and her husband is hoping that she will be the difference for the franchise.
“My lucky charm, Ashley, is going to go represent [the] Jazz,” Smith said during a radio interview this week.
Meanwhile, Jazz general manager Justin Zanik will represent the team in the lottery room, where the actual selection of the picks takes place. There, an air hopper will mix 14 labeled pingpong balls, of which four will be selected to determine the lottery winners. The process will be repeated four times, once for each of the first four picks in the lottery.
If the Jazz’s numbers aren’t selected in any of the four stages, they would fall to the No. 5 pick.
But winning the lottery would give the team the chance to draft Duke’s Cooper Flagg, who analysts believe is the by far the best prospect in the 2025 class.
The Jazz have never had the No. 1 overall pick.
The draft lottery will be held on Monday evening in Chicago. ESPN’s coverage of the event starts at 5 p.m. MDT.
