The draft order looks like a straightforward inversion of the standings. Several layers of tiebreakers, trades and awarded picks sit on top of that base, and they determine who actually chooses when.
The base rule is reverse order of finish
Teams that miss the playoffs select first, ordered from worst record to best, so the club with the fewest wins holds the opening pick of each round.
Playoff teams follow, ordered by how far they advanced, with the champion selecting last in every round.
The design transfers the best available talent toward the weakest rosters, which is the competitive balance argument behind the whole system.
Ties are broken by strength of schedule
When records match, the first tiebreaker is strength of schedule, calculated from the combined records of a team's opponents.
The team that faced weaker opposition is treated as the weaker club and picks earlier, which reverses the logic used for playoff seeding.
If teams remain tied after further steps, positions are settled by a drawing, and tied teams rotate order between rounds.
Trades detach picks from teams
Selections are property and can be traded, including picks in future years, so the order of teams and the order of picks stop matching.
Clubs trade down to accumulate volume or up to secure a specific player, and the value exchanged is guided by informal charts that translate slots into points.
Because contracts for drafted players are governed by a fixed scale tied to slot, the financial consequence of moving up or down is predictable.
Compensatory picks reward departures
Teams that lose more qualifying free agents than they sign can receive additional selections at the end of certain rounds.
The formula weighs the contracts and playing time of the players who left and those who arrived, and the awards are announced before the draft.
These picks were long untradeable and are now movable, which added another source of order changes.
Forfeitures and special cases exist
The league can strip or move a selection as a penalty for rule violations, which removes a pick from the board entirely rather than transferring it.
Supplemental procedures exist for players who become available after the main draft, and a club that uses one gives up the equivalent pick the following year.
The board that appears on draft night is therefore the product of a season's results, an offseason of transactions and a set of administrative adjustments.