The Washington Wizards are among the teams with the highest odds to win the No. 1 pick but the Miami Heat could factor into it
The Miami Heat have the 13th-best odds to land the top pick in next month's NBA draft.
Some media personalities believe the Heat could pick better than their odds because of "karma." Bill Simmons of The Ringer feels the NBA owes it to the Heat to get a top four pick because of the Washington Wizards.
Many felt the Wizards tanked this season so they could improve their draft positioning. Simmons also said the Heat should be in the good graces of NBA commissioner Adam Silver after they allowed center Bam Adebayo to score 83 points in a game that was already decided.
"They haven't picked higher than 10 since 2008," Simmons said of the Heat. "They get The Decision and this stuff with LeBron. I think they're still dining on the karma points from that. I had them at zero karma points just in general, but Bam scoring 83 points on the tanking Wizards, I think they won karma points ... They get points for that. If they get in the top four, it'll be like, `Oh, it's because of the Bam 83."'
The Heat's last highest draft pick was when they took Michael Beasley at No. 2 in 2008. That selection never panned out because Beasley only played a few seasons before he was traded in the summer of 2010. That was prior to the Heat acquiring LeBron James and Chris Bosh on the way to winning two titles in four straight Finals appearances from 2010-14.
That means the Heat have dealt with misfortunes since. Despite making two more Finals, they have yet to add to their championship room. Simmons and Nick Wright of Fox Sports seem to think the league owes it to the Heat by helping them get a higher pick so they can return to the top of the Eastern Conference.
And the league can get back at the Wizards.
Here's what Wright said alongside Simmons on the podcast, "It is because they said, `Oh, you're going to shamelessly tank, Washington. We're going to Scarlett Letter you. We're going to show you there's a penalty for trying to losing basketball games."'
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Shandel Richardson is the publisher of HeatRoundtable. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com