The race for the bottom of the NBA

The two top seeds in both conferences have been decided, but there’s still plenty of jockeying for the other playoff seeds. Forget about that for a moment, though. What about the bottom of the standings and the race for the most ping pong balls in the lottery?

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The New York Knicks currently have the worst record in the league at 14-60, which is already the most losses in a single season in franchise history. The Knicks are throwing out a hodge-podge team with Carmelo Anthony and others out with injury, and this sad-sack group is two games worse than the Minnesota Timberwolves.

While the Wolves have a bunch of injuries as well, there’s some legitimate young talent on the roster, including Andrew Wiggins. At this point, New York’s status as the worst team in the league should be pretty safe unless they surprisingly win some games they shouldn’t. If it holds, the Knicks will have a 25 percent chance at the No. 1 overall pick and can’t pick any worse than fourth in the draft.

The Wolves are just 1½ games worse than the third-worst team in the league, the Philadelphia 76ers. The Sixers are 18-57 and have actually exceeded expectations this year, as some thought this Philly squad could challenge for worst record ever. While the offense has been historically bad, Rookie of the Year candidate Nerlens Noel has anchored a strong defense that has made the Sixers somewhat respectable.

Philadelphia came up with a huge “tank win” against the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday, though, losing in overtime on a Jordan Clarkson buzzer-beater. The loss created three games of separation between the Sixers and Lakers, giving Philly a good chance of finishing with at least the third-worst record in the league. Finishing with the third-worst record would give the Sixers about a 47 percent chance of picking in the top three.

While the loss was a great one for Philly, the win was particularly damaging for the Lakers. Not only did it give Los Angeles a more secure grasp on the fourth-worst record, but it also got them closer to the Orlando Magic, the fifth-worst team. There’s only 1½ games separating the Lakers and Magic, and Los Angeles really doesn’t want to switch spots.

That’s because the Lakers lose their first-round pick to the Sixers if that pick falls outside the top five. If Los Angeles stays at that fourth-worst spot, there’s about a 27 percent better chance of keeping the pick than if they switched with Orlando.

The Sacramento Kings are the sixth-worst team, but the Magic are 4½ games worse than the Kings, so the bottom five is basically set. Now we just have to see what the final order is.