5 teams enter Wemby's basement, only 3 can stay

The Spurs and Magic are getting comfortable.

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

The Vestal Virgin, Jacques-Louis David, 1787

We’re starting to get a better sense of the Wembanyama Sweepstakes. A quarter of the way into the NBA season, we have five teams below the .300 winning percentage mark.

• Orlando Magic: 5-20 (.200)

• Detroit Pistons: 6-19 (.240)

• San Antonio Spurs: 6-18 (.250)

• Houston Rockets: 7-17 (.292)

• Charlotte Hornets: 7-17 (.292)

The next worst team is the Chicago Bulls at 9-14; after that, every other team in the league is within two games of .500 and theoretically interested in making the playoffs. The surprise absences from this list of horrid teams are the Jazz (14-12), Pacers (13-11) and Thunder (11-13). No inclusions are all that surprising, with the possible exception of the Hornets, who have been devastated by injuries.

With current lottery rules, the teams with the three worst records go into the hopper with identical odds of picking No. 1 overall. As I’ve mentioned before, that’s the prize here: get into the bottom three to maximize your shot at Wemby or Scoot Henderson.