CHICAGO (AP) \u2014 For Michael Winger, 1 was the loneliest number. And for the Washington Wizards, it was the best ping-pong ball.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s explain: Winger, the president of Monumental Basketball, was the Wizards\u2019 representative inside the sequestered room where the NBA draft lottery was taking place Sunday. The first ball was 4, the second ball was 2.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew it was us,\u201d Winger said.<\/p>\n
He was right. The third ball \u2014 1 \u2014 made it official. The fourth ball was a 13, which meant nothing. The 4-2-1 combination ensured that the Wizards had won the lottery and earned the right to pick No. 1 in next month\u2019s draft, a huge step forward for a team that finished with the league\u2019s worst record this season. And for the next 45 minutes, before the rest of the world found out during a television broadcast, Winger was essentially stone-faced.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n \n AP AUDIO: Washington wins NBA draft lottery, chance to pick first on June 23\n <\/p>\n The league\u2019s worst team this season is getting the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft. Correspondent Gethin Coolbaugh reports.<\/p>\n \u201cI could have celebrated by myself, looking around for somebody to high-five,\u201d Winger said. \u201cThere wouldn\u2019t have been anybody there.\u201d<\/p>\n The celebrations came later. Winger, Wizards great John Wall, vice president of player personnel Travis Schlenk, coach Brian Keefe and assistant coach David Vanterpool posed on stage after the lottery ended, all smiles. There haven\u2019t been a lot of moments worth smiling about in Wizards-land over the last three years. That may be changing.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s our fans that have endured the most,\u201d Winger said. \u201cAnd to me, this No. 1 pick is for them. It\u2019s a reward for hanging in there with us. It\u2019s a reward to continue to support us despite sometimes really bad basketball. They knew and they supported a multiyear teardown, a multiyear reinvention of the franchise.\u201d<\/p>\n It will be Washington\u2019s first time with the No. 1 pick since they chose Wall in that spot in 2010. Wall was the Wizards\u2019 on-stage representative for the lottery.<\/p>\n \u201cThey could be a team that I feel should be in playoff contention next year,\u201d Wall said.<\/p>\n Washington had a 14% chance of winning the No. 1 pick, tied with Brooklyn and Indiana for the best odds. The Wizards had basically a 50-50 chance of getting either a top-four pick or the No. 5 spot.<\/p>\n But three consecutive years of losing \u2014 the three worst seasons in the franchise\u2019s 65-year history \u2014 paid off for a team that went 17-65 this season and even allowed Miami\u2019s Bam Adebayo to score 83 points for the league\u2019s second-highest single-game total ever.<\/p>\n The Wizards swung deals to land All-Stars Trae Young and Anthony Davis earlier this year, and now they can add whichever college player they want.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is another step in our journey,\u201d Keefe said. \u201cObviously, it\u2019s a great day and we\u2019re looking forward to going through the process and finding who we\u2019re going to take with that pick, but I\u2019m just thrilled for everybody that works with the organization and most importantly the community.\u201d<\/p>\n Winger brought a photo of his family with him into the lottery room, perhaps the bit of luck he needed. And there is a certain symmetry to how the 4-2-1 combination was what delivered for the Wizards; those numbers add up to 7.<\/p>\n \u201cThe day I was born,\u201d said Keefe, born April 7, 1976.<\/p>\n Utah will pick No. 2, Memphis will pick No. 3 and Chicago will pick No. 4.<\/p>\n The Los Angeles Clippers got the fifth pick \u2014 via a trade with the Pacers, who were shut out of the draft entirely<\/a> \u2014 followed by No. 6 Brooklyn, No. 7 Sacramento, No. 8 Atlanta, No. 9 Dallas, No. 10 Milwaukee, No. 11 Golden State, No. 12 Oklahoma City, No. 13 Miami and No. 14 Charlotte.<\/p>\n The draft begins June 23 in New York. The draft combine in Chicago starts on Monday.<\/p>\n No. 1 pick possibilities<\/p>\n There are four candidates that generally are considered front-runners to be the No. 1 pick, all coming out of college after one year.<\/p>\n \u2014 BYU\u2019s AJ Dybantsa, who led the nation in scoring at 25.5 points per game.<\/p>\n \u2014 Duke\u2019s Cameron Boozer, the AP player of the year who averaged 22.5 points and 10.1 rebounds.<\/p>\n \u2014 Kansas\u2019 Darryn Peterson, who averaged 20.2 points in 24 games.<\/p>\n \u2014 North Carolina\u2019s Caleb Wilson, who averaged 19.8 points and 9.4 rebounds on 58% shooting.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously we\u2019re going to find out on June 23 where I\u2019m going to land,\u201d Dybantsa said. \u201cI\u2019m betting on myself to be a No. 1 pick. I think I\u2019m very adaptable, I can play anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s now possible that Boozer could be selected by the Bulls or the Jazz \u2014 two teams that his father, Carlos Boozer, played for in his NBA days.<\/p>\n \u201cIt could be surreal, for sure,\u201d Cameron Boozer said.<\/p>\n Last of this format (probably)<\/p>\n This was the eighth, and likely final, year of this version of an NBA draft lottery, with the worst teams having a 14% chance of winning.<\/p>\n