NBA Draft 2020: Matching top prospects with needs of top lottery teams

The 2020 NBA Draft lottery is finally approaching. Which bottom-tier teams are the best fits for each of the top-tier prospects?

With the deadline has passed for prospects to withdraw, over 100 prospects are now officially eligible for selection in October’s first-year player draft, all eyes now turn to Thursday’s NBA Draft lottery — Aug. 20, 2020 — with the 14 teams that missed the playoffs jockeying for draft position.

Making up the lottery this year are a handful of perennial underachievers, a few teams that are just entering lengthy rebuilds and surprisingly, the NBA’s best team of the previous decade in the Golden State Warriors.

For most of these teams, especially those that have difficulty attracting marquee free agents, the lottery presents their best — and only — opportunity to address serious needs on their roster and rebuild effectively to return to contention.

While this year’s draft class clearly lacks breakout talents like Zion Williamson and Ja Morant that last year produced, it still contains plenty of depth and solid collegiate performers.

Also featured are overseas prospects such as Deni Avdija and Killian Hayes — both of which could become household names within a handful of seasons.

Altogether, this class could still yield a series of All-Stars and All-NBA finishers and will certainly feature some solid NBA players going forward.

With this in mind, here’s a rundown of the NBA’s eight worst finishers last season, and which elite lottery prospects best match their most glaring needs going forward.