Sportsbook.com Offers NBA Draft Odds

NEW YORK – (PRESS RELEASE) -- With the NBA Draft Lottery right around the corner, hoops fans can do more than anxiously anticipate which team will win the first pick - they can bet on it. Several teams will be chomping at the bit for the number one pick at the upcoming NBA Lottery Draft. But history has dictated that the worst team doesn't always land on top, prompting Sportsbook.com to offer odds on which team will land the coveted first selection at the NBA Entertainment studio in Secaucus, NJ on May 23.

The Portland Trailblazers, with a regular season record of 21-61, currently have the best odds at 3-1. This should not dampen the hopes of the Utah Jazz, the fourteenth and final team in the lottery with 200-1 odds. In 1992 the Orlando Magic defied the lottery odds and scored the number one pick, which they later used to select Chris Webber, with just one chance out of 66. The New Jersey Nets, seventh overall among non-playoff teams in 2000, won the number one pick for that year while Houston landed the first pick in 2002 as the fifth team overall and chose superstar Yao Ming.

Since 1990, only three teams with the worst regular season records have won the NBA Draft Lottery - New Jersey (1990), Cleveland (2003) and Orlando (2004) - while seven teams seeded fourth or higher have scored the number one pick.

"This is an exciting time for NBA fans," said Alex Czajkowski, Sportsbook.com. "Everybody bets on the NBA and now they can bet on the NBA draft lottery. Each year is a crap shoot - there's always one team that sneaks in and lands an unexpected selection number. That's what makes this draft process so unique and entertaining for basketball fans."