ChatGPT has recently been tested extensively by us Basketball Insiders. In this version of ChatGPT Predictions, we tasked an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot with predicting the NBA Draft lottery standings and the players each team would pick. Take a look at ChatGPT’s predictions for the 2023 NBA Lottery standings and each team’s picks.
We had some fun with it chat for this experiment. And by fun, we mean trying trichotillomania. When dealing with ChatGPT, the information it produces is basically only as good as your prompt. So, the first part of this was simple. We just fed ChatGPT the odds and parameters for the NBA Draft and asked it to issue the lottery standings. Simple, job done.
That’s all the editor is asking for, empty it and submit. However, the brilliant idea of then asking ChatGPT to craft a player for each crept into my ever-shrinking mind. Sure, it sounds easy enough. Anyway, after about four hours and lots of swear words popping up on the poor chatbot, here we go. We’ll discuss the issues we ran into more later, but for now, let’s take a look at the highlights from ChatGPT’s NBA Draft lottery standings and draft selections for each team:
- Detroit wins the NBA Draft lottery
- Victor Wimpanyama headed to Detroit with the first pick of the 2023 NBA Draft
- Brandon Miller of Alabama went to the Houston Rockets with the third pick in the 2023 NBA Draft
Before we get into the details of ChatGPT’s predictions, let’s first look at the important dates to remember for the 2023 NBA Draft.
NBA Draft Dates to Remember
- 🏀 2023 NBA draft lottery
- 📅 Tuesday, May 16th
- 🕣 8:30 p.m
- 📺 ESPN
- 🎲 Odds of winning the NBA Draft Lottery: DET +600 | HOU +600 | SA +600
- 🏀 NBA Combine
- 📅 Dates: May 15 – May 18
- 📺 TV: NBA App / ESPN / ESPN2 / ESPN +
- 🏀 NBA Draft
- 📅 Date: Thursday, June 22nd
- 🕗 Time: 8 pm
- 📺 TV: ABC / ESPN
ChatGPT’s lottery simulator
ChatGPT was told that the percentages for each team’s picks look like this:
a team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
the | 14 | 13.4 | 12.7 | 12 | 47.9 | |||||||||
new | 14 | 13.4 | 12.7 | 12 | 27.8 | 20 | ||||||||
Sass | 14 | 13.4 | 12.7 | 12 | 14.8 | 26 | 7 | |||||||
cha | 12.5 | 12.2 | 11.9 | 11.5 | 7.2 | 25.7 | 16.8 | 2.2 | ||||||
by | 10.5 | 10.5 | 10.6 | 10.5 | 2.2 | 19.6 | 26.7 | 8.7 | 0.6 | |||||
ORL | 9 | 9.2 | 9.4 | 9.6 | 8.6 | 29.7 | 20.6 | 3.7 | 0.2 | |||||
IND | 6.8 | 7.1 | 7.5 | 7.9 | 19.7 | 35.6 | 13.8 | 1.4 | >0.0 | |||||
He was | 6.7 | 7 | 7.4 | 7.8 | 32.9 | 31.1 | 6.6 | 0.4 | >0.0 | |||||
Utah | 4.5 | 4.8 | 5.2 | 5.7 | 50.7 | 25.9 | 3 | 0.1 | >0.0 | |||||
DAL | 3 | 3.3 | 3.6 | 4 | 65.9 | 19 | 1.2 | >0.0 | >0.0 | |||||
Chi | 1.8 | 2 | 2.2 | 2.5 | 77.6 | 13.5 | 0.4 | >0.0 | ||||||
OKC | 1.7 | 1.9 | 2.1 | 2.4 | 85.2 | 6.7 | 0.1 | |||||||
TOR | 1 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 92.9 | 2.3 | ||||||||
no | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 97.6 |
With the percentages and parameters in place, ChatGPT proceeded to randomize the 2023 NBA Draft lottery standings. Here’s what I found:
- Detroit Pistons
- Charlotte Hornets
- Houston Rockets
- San Antonio Spurs
- Portland Trail Blazers
- Orlando Magic
- Indiana Pacers
- Washington Wizards
- Utah Jazz
- Dallas Mavericks
- Chicago Bulls
- Oklahoma City Thunder
- Toronto Raptors
- New Orleans Pelicans
There isn’t much in the way of surprises with the top four picks according to ChatGPT. This is very similar to other simulations we’ve run on other websites.
The Detroit Pistons took the first pick overall and won a lot on lottery night according to ChatGPT. The other gainers are the Charlotte Hornets who moved up to second place.
ChatGPT’s NBA 2023 draft
We thought we’d add another twist and have ChatGPT select a player for each team to see how they thought the 2023 NBA draft would play out. To say we had some issues is an understatement, but we got there in the end!
We fed ChatGPT some dummy drafts and plenty of player scouting reports to help it make its decisions. Unfortunately, we over-informed him and he told us to be more brief. we tried. Eventually we got there, and she spat at her picks, but not in the form we’d asked. So, we asked her to do it again in the correct format. He said no problem, then produced the image below.
We don’t think Trevor Lawrence is a good choice for the Pistons, and we don’t think any of the aforementioned players have any intention of leaving their lucrative NFL jobs to try their hand at the NBA. So we continued. Several mistakes later, and maybe a few curse words directed at an inanimate object, we finally got our desired result.
Here are ChatGPT’s predictions on who each team will pick in 2023 NFL NBA Draft:
- Detroit Pistons: Victor WimbanyamaC, 7’5″, 220 lbs, Metropolitans 92 (France)
- Charlotte Hornets: Scott HendersonPG, 6’2″, 195 lbs., G league
- Houston Rockets: Brandon MillerSF, 6’9″, 200 lbs., Alabama
- San Antonio Spurs: Cam WhitmorePF, 6’7″, 225 lbs., Villanova
- Portland Trail Blazers: Amen ThompsonSG/PG, 6’7″, 202 lbs., Elite Extra
- Orlando Magic: Osar ThompsonSG/SF, 6’7″, 207 lbs., Elite Extra
- Indiana Pacers: Jaras WalkerPF, 6’8″, 220 lbs., Houston
- Washington Wizards: Keyonte GeorgeSG, 6’4″, 185 lbs., Baylor
- Utah Jazz: Casson WallacePG, 6’4″, 185 lbs., Kentucky
- Dallas Mavericks: Anthony BlackSG/SF, 6’7, 195 lbs., Arkansas
- Orlando Magic (via Chicago Bulls): Taylor HendricksPF, 6’9″, 210 lbs., UCF
- Oklahoma City Thunder: Nick Smith JrPG/SG, 6’5″, 185 lbs., Arkansas
- Toronto Raptors: Jordan HawkinsSG, 6’5″, 195 lbs., UConn
- New Orleans Pelicans: Galen Hood ChevinauPG/SG, 6’6″, 213 lbs., Indiana
There are no big bumps at the top of the 2023 NBA draft. The Pistons draft massive Victor Wimpanyama, while the Hornets take PG Scoot Henderson and the Rockets take Brandon Miller at third.
The big winner in this draft will be Cam Whitmore. Whitmore isn’t expected to be in the top five, but ChatGPT disagrees and believes the San Antonio Spurs will take the opportunity to move forward.
Kansas guard Grady Dick appears to be the biggest loser, as ChatGPT thinks he’ll drop out of the top 14. Dick is currently expected to enter the top ten. We’ve been asking why this slide, but we’re, quite frankly, sick and tired of ChatGPT nonsense tonight (or maybe our prompts simply aren’t good enough)!
Will the Pistons get this lucky in the lottery and will ChatGPT’s predictions come true? We won’t have to wait long to find out, as all eyes start to turn towards the NBA draft and sweepstakes in the coming days.