I'm not nervous, because I've made peace with a couple things.
- The only way for the Celtics to fall to 6th would be for the Lakers to fall out of the top 3 and lose their pick entirely. So I couldn't stay salty long*
- The only way for the Lakers to keep their pick and Boston to fall to 5th would be for Philly to fall out of the top 3**.
So I guess the worst-case scenario looks something like this:
#1 - Lakers
#2 - Chicago (lol at how that would impact the Jimmy Butler situation... they might as well keep Butler and trade the pick for another impact star)
#3 - Any team 4-15
#4 - Philly
#5 - Boston
And even in that worst-case scenario, Boston has a top 5 pick on top of a situation that is already pretty awesome. So whatever.
*One note on the "Falling to #6" scenario. I'd say it would also mean Philly would fall out of the top 3 entirely, but that's technically not true since they have swap rights with the kings. So a 6th pick worst-case scenario could go like this:
#1 - Kings - Philly takes pick
#2 - Chicago
#3 - Any team 4-15
#4 - Philly - Kings swap backwards
#5 - Philly - (via Lakers)
#6 - Boston.
For the Philly haters, that'd be a bitter one, but at least the Lakers get shafted... and I'd still be fine with Boston having a 6th pick on top of a pretty excellent situation as-is.
**For an all-ugly situation, we have this to look forward to:
#1 - Lakers
#2 - Kings - Philly take it
#3 - Chicago
#4 - Philly - Kings take it
#5 - Boston
That would be annoying
... but we can take some solace in Philly not getting two picks in the top 5, I guess?