It’s the month of May, which means NBA playoff basketball is in full flux—and the league’s draft lottery is coming up. The 2026 NBA draft lottery is set to take place on Sunday, May 10 at 3 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on ABC. For savvy hoops fans who already know all the inner workings of one of the NBA’s most complicated events, go away. This isn’t for you. For the more casual NBA fan who’s interesting in finding out exactly how the draft lottery works, read on for our handy explainer. And remember our golden rule: there are no stupid questions. Let’s start with the basics. What’s the point of using a draft lottery? The NBA draft lottery was put in place to determine the order of selection for the first 14 picks of the league’s draft. Why doesn’t the NBA just do a draft based simply on teams’ records from the previous season, like the NFL? Great question. Having a draft lottery intentionally creates uncertainty so that teams are less incentivized to tank for for higher picks.…