Draft lottery tonight, 2nd-round draft prospects arrive Thursday

The NBA will conduct its annual game of chance tonight before the Heat-Celtics game, only this time for the first time in eight years the Wolves and their fans won't have a rooting interest.

Unless, of course, it's rooting against New Orleans and its 1.1 percent chance to winning the No. 1 pick with the draft choice it received from the Wolves via the Clippers.

The Wolves traded that pick, of course, long ago to L.A. in a deal that sent Sam Cassell out West and brought back the now long-forgotten Marko Jaric.

Given the Wolves' lottery luck, more than a few of their most loyal fans probably rate the Hornets' real odds of winning the No. 1 overall pick with that selection at about 50-50.

The prize to the winner is the right to select Kentucky forward Anthony Davis.

On Thursday, the draft process continues at Target Center, where the Wolves and other NBA teams will have scouting representatives for the first of two days of pre-draft workouts.

These workouts will consists of players expected to go in the second round and go undrafted.

Here's the list of players due in Thursday, and, as always, the list is subject to change:

Morning session: Texas guard J'Covan Brown, New Mexico forward Drew Gordon, Duke center Miles Plumlee, Spanish guard Tomas Satoransky, Northwestern forward John Shurna, Memphis forward Wesley Witherspoon.

Afternoon session: Baylor forward Quincy Acy, Marquette forward Jae Crowder, Iona guard Scott Machado, Temple guard Ramone Moore, Tennessee Tech guard Kevin Murphy and Long Beach State guard Casper Ware.