The Washington Wizards have misplaced 206 video games within the final three seasons. That futility was lastly rewarded with the highest choose within the NBA Draft.
The highest 4 behind Washington had been rounded out with the Utah Jazz at No. 2, the Memphis Grizzlies at No. 3 and the Chicago Bulls leaping as much as No. 4. Listed below are the winners and losers from the dramatic 2026 NBA draft lottery.
Winners
Washington Wizards
The Wizards’ tanking obtained ugly by the tip of the season, with the workforce surrendering an 83-point recreation to Bam Adebayo. The agony of a 17-65 season could also be price it now that the Wizards get their choose of the 2026 draft class to pair with 2024’s No. 2 choose Alex Sarr, final season’s No. 6 choose Tre Johnson and rehabbing former All-Stars Trae Younger and Anthony Davis.
The final time Washington picked first? 2010, once they took John Wall and laid the muse for a workforce that gained three playoff sequence from 2014-17. For a franchise that is gained 4 playoff sequence in whole since 1982, the ping-pong balls going their approach had been big.
The Clippers traded beginning heart Ivica Zubac to the Indiana Pacers for a bundle together with the Pacers’ first-round choose, which had attention-grabbing safety. Had the choose ended up 1-4 or 10-14, the Pacers would have stored it. As a substitute, the Clippers can add an elite younger participant to a workforce that is reshuffling, if not outright rebuilding their veteran roster.
The Jazz made a blockbuster deal to accumulate All-Star ahead Jaren Jackson, Jr. from the Grizzlies, who had signed Jackson to an enormous contract extension simply final summer time. The Grizzlies continued to dismantle the core of their playoff workforce, transferring Jackson months after buying and selling Desmond Bane and with Ja Morant firmly on the commerce block.
Now the Jazz can add the No. 2 choose within the draft to Jackson and All-Star Lauri Markkanen, which might be standout BYU freshman AJ Dybantsa, who performed his school ball in Utah. The Grizzlies had a haul of different groups’ draft picks from the Jackson and Bane trades, however it’s their very own choose — because of some excessive tanking after dealing Jackson — that will get them their first shot at one other elite expertise.
Losers
The Pelicans mind belief of Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver was very aggressive earlier than final 12 months’s draft. On the identical day as Recreation 7 of the NBA Finals, the Pelicans traded Indiana’s 2026 first-rounder again to them, in trade for the Pacers’ No. 23 choose in 2025. Then, the Pelicans despatched that choose to the Atlanta Hawks, together with their very own 2026 first-rounder, for No. 13 choose Derik Queen.
Which means the Pelicans traded the picks that ended up No. 5 and No. 8 this June for choose No. 13. Queen had a high-quality rookie season, averaging 11.1 factors, 7.1 rebounds and three.7 assists, however he was not price that sort of draft capital.
Indiana Pacers
The Pacers took a calculated threat dealing a protected first-rounder for a veteran heart, and that threat didn’t repay. Indiana had the NBA’s second-worst report throughout a 12 months Tyrese Haliburton missed with an Achilles tear, however fell to fifth within the draft and misplaced their choose. It is by no means a very good signal when your workforce’s GM has to apologize to the followers.
