It feels ironic that the Washington Wizards became the first team with the worst record to get the No. 1 pick since the NBA switched to these new lottery odds — just in time for the league to change everything next year to “fix” tanking. Again.
The way the ping-pong balls bounced this year left some big winners and some painful losers. Let’s break down who won and who lost in the 2026 NBA Draft Lottery.
Winner: Shameless tanking
The Washington Wizards traded for Trae Young and Anthony Davis and barely played them to maintain their lottery odds (to be fair, AD was injured). The Utah Jazz were the face of tanking in the league, got a massive fine, traded for Jaren Jackson Jr. and mostly sat him to keep their draft position. The Memphis Grizzlies were just a couple of games out of the play-in when they traded Jackson to the Jazz and started tanking in earnest, going 5-28 the rest of the way.
All three of those teams were rewarded and have the top three picks in this draft. If you wonder why the league thinks it needs a new lottery system to fix tanking, this is the prime example.
Chicago jumped up to the top four because Toni Kukoc brought the swagger.
Six years ago, when Arturas Karnisovas took over as the lead executive in Chicago, the Bulls jumped up from seventh in the lottery odds to get the No. 4 pick, which they used to select Patrick Williams. That pick (and subsequent contract) was an anchor on Karnisovas’ entire tenure.
This year, Bryson Graham has taken over as the lead executive in Chicago, and the Bulls jumped from ninth in the lottery odds to get the No. 4 pick. Most likely, they will use that on North Carolina’s Caleb Willson, unless Memphis falls in love with him, in which case Cameron Boozer of Duke likely falls to the Bulls. Either way, Graham needs this pick to work out.
Winner: Washington Wizards
Washington was active in “pre-agency” at the trade deadline last February, getting good deals on two former All-Stars other teams were looking to dump move on from: Trae Young and Anthony Davis. This is a team that already had some promising young players like big man Alex Sarr and last year’s first-round pick Tre Johnson. This was a team that was already going to be better and in the postseason mix in the East.
Now they likely add AJ Dybantsa, the 6’9″ ultra-talented, ultra-athletic wing out of BYU, who seems like a perfect fit. Suddenly, the Wizards look interesting next season.
There is a report that Washington might be open to trading down, via Jake Fischer of The Stein Line. Sure, if someone comes in with a Godfather offer they can’t refuse, but that’s unlikely at best. The Wizards are not giving up their first No. 1 pick since selecting John Wall in 2010, a pick that has the fan base excited, without some overwhelming talent returning.
The most talent-starved team in the league was let down by the basketball gods. While they will still get a quality player at No. 6 — likely a star guard like Darius Acuff Jr. or Keaton Wagler — but it’s not the guy or the lottery luck they were hoping for.
Brooklyn is on track to struggle again next year, and with the coming new “3-2-1″ lottery system, their chances of adding that elite talent just got longer.
Winner: Utah Jazz
The lottery gods finally smiled on the Jazz. Which is ironic because they became the face of tanking this season when the league fined them $500,000 for playing their stars 20 minutes a game, then benching them in the stretch and losing. It turns out that what the league wanted was just for the Jazz to make up an injury and bench them all game, so they did. The Jazz got all the bad press, and the basketball gods rewarded them.
This is another team already building something with guard Keyonte George and big man Walker Kessler, plus last year’s No. 1 pick Ace Bailey. They already had Lauri Markkanen and then added Jaren Jackson Jr. at the deadline. Now put Kansas guard Darryn Peterson in the mix and they look like a potential playoff team starting next season.
You know it’s not good when just after the lottery the GM steps up and takes the blame.
As part of the trade to bring in Ivica Zubac in February, the Pacers traded their pick this year to the Clippers, but it was top-four protected. While the Pacers finished with the league’s second-worst record, that made it basically a coin toss (52% to 48%) whether they would lose their pick. They did lose it, which essentially means they traded the No. 5 pick for Zubac. Make no mistake, Zubac with a healthy Tyrese Halliburton is a good pairing — and the Pacers will be back contending for the East crown next season with him — but that is a steep price.
Winner: LA Clippers
If the Pacers are losers, then the Clippers must be winners. They get to add another high-level player to a roster that is getting retooled in the next couple of years.
They are going to be an interesting team on draft night. At No. 5, that’s where a run of strong point guards starts, except the Clippers traded for Darius Garland during the season (for James Harden). LA needs to find a guard or wing who can play off ball, not just on, which might be Keaton Wagler.
Call it an ethical tank if you want, the Kings were just bad this season. At No. 7, they are still going to get a quality player, but maybe not the star they were hoping for to anchor their rebuild. Also, like Brooklyn, the Kings may be bad again next year but with flatter lottery odds (almost certainly a part of whatever system the owners approve) it will be even harder for Sacramento to get that elite talent.
We knew this would be the case when it happened last June. That’s when the Pelicans traded the rights to their pick this year to jump up 10 spots and select Derik Queen. Now we know that it is the No. 8 pick. Queen showed promise this season, but that looked like a bad trade at the time and it may be worse now.
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