Thanks to two articles by a Boston Celtics analyst and a really curious/mathematically-inclined friend, we have the 18 lottery combinations the Kings' prayers for a top three pick will rely on.

The Celtics analyst posted Boston's numbers this week. My enterprising friend looked at the pattern, figured out where the Kings would end up on the pattern spectrum, and voila… a best guess at the numbers.

As an explainer: there are 14 ping pong balls numbered 1-14. The lottery process includes choosing four of those balls randomly from the hopper. There are 1,001 possible combinations. Those are split up among the lottery teams in weighted fashion — Memphis has 250 for example, and the Kings have 18. The executors of the lottery pick the first four balls out, and whichever team has that combination gets the #1 pick in the draft. The balls are replaced and the same process occurs for the #2 pick. Obviously, if the #2 pick team is the same as the team that received the #1 pick, the drawing is done again. This is done up to the #3 pick. For picks #4-14, position is based on reverse winning record with the top 3 picking teams removed. So essentially, the Kings can pick #1-3, or #10. There's a small chance the Kings could pick #11 if one of the worse teams in the lottery earns a top 3 pick, and an even smaller chance the Kings end up at #12 if two worse teams end up in the top 3.

And now, the winning combinations for the Kings:

The lottery is Tuesday.