After what took place at the 2019 draft lottery, the New Orleans Pelicans probably shouldn’t be too upset about it, but Thursday’s edition of the event resulted in them claiming the No. 13 overall pick this time. As expected based on the mathematical odds, New Orleans will have the penultimate selection in the lottery portion of the 2020 NBA Draft, which is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 16.

A year ago, New Orleans only had 6.0 percent odds of winning the lottery, but landed the top prize and selected forward Zion Williamson a month later. This year, the Pelicans had a 5.7 percent chance of climbing into the top four, but were unable to do so.

At No. 13, the Pelicans still have the potential to add a promising young player Oct. 16. As Sports Illustrated draft analyst Jeremy Woo described this week, “the player pool should actually produce fairly good value for teams picking late in the lottery and on toward the early 20s — there’s not a ton separating most of the first-round prospects as far as talent is concerned. So the guy you take at 12 or 13 could have a case to go at 7 or 8, and the narrow gap between players tends to put a little extra emphasis on team fit when these decisions are being made.”