The Utah Jazz have not had the best luck when it comes to the NBA Draft Lottery. The Utah Jazz are just one of nine teams to have never been selected as the winning lottery team, which would give them the right to take the first amateur player in the NBA Draft.
As the Jazz have never won the draft lottery, they've never selected first overall either. This is where things can change for the Jazz. They have the 8th best chance to get the first overall pick in the NBA Draft this year, which would allow Danny Ainge and company the ability to either pick their guy or trade away the pick for compensation and maybe a player or two.
Yet, the Jazz, like Atlanta Hawks, Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat, and the Oklahoma City Thunder, represent the nine teams who have not won the draft lottery yet and may not want to finally snap that run in 2024.
Ever since the Draft Lottery was created in 1985, those teams never got the first overall pick and usually that's a bad thing, but this season that may not be such a desirable option. Whoever wins the Draft Lottery this year will have the near-impossible challenge of not only picking the best player they possibly can but picking one that would be worthy of the number one overall draft pick.
After all, just look at how bad the Cleveland Cavaliers look the year they took Anthony Bennett. Yes, that was the same draft that Giannis Antetokounmpo came out, but no one had him as a real lottery pick. What Giannis Antetokounmpo pulled off was unexpected and unpredictable. You don't randomly get 15th overall picks who hadd 50+ pounds of muscle over his career, while also becoming the most dominant inside scorer of his era.
This doesn't mean the Jazz can't find a guy worth having, be it at first overall or eight overall, but it will be a lot harder to justify a borderline all-star at first overall as opposed to eight. Still, it'd be nice to finally get the proverbial monkey off your back by finally getting the first overall pick.