NBA Draft Lottery: The 7 biggest winners (Wizards finally!) and losers (tough break, Pacers)
Thanks to the annual NBA Draft Lottery (here are the final results and the full order of picks), Sunday was an essential day for the Association’s future. In a June draft featuring so many possible star players, Sunday even had more stakes than usual.
Finally, the Washington Wizards and their fans had the glorious moment they were looking for. The Brooklyn Nets, meanwhile, unfortunately, look like they’re destined to be mired in basketball Purgatory for at least a little while longer. The Indiana Pacers also didn’t have the best Sunday, but they should still be plenty OK on the court next season. And wasn’t it so cool to see mothers beaming with joy for their children, realizing their dream on Mother’s Day? Is someone cutting onions in here?
With another NBA lottery in the books, let’s unpack the biggest winners and losers from Navy Pier in Chicago.
Winner: The Wizards, who can cement a rebuild that may finally turn them into one of the NBA’s most formidable teams
Finally, the Wizards can be validated. For years, a perpetual rebuild has tortured both organization and fans alike. For years, the Wizards were one of the league’s preeminent butts of the joke, a franchise that, at a certain point, it felt almost mean to make fun of because it seemed like needless punching down.
But no longer. By now possessing the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, the Wizards will have a chance at whoever they believe is the cream of the crop. And even if they don’t end up getting the prospect who eventually becomes the clear top player of his class, they’re still likely to get a young, bona fide franchise player they can build around for years and years. There’s now a realistic possibility that the Wizards could become a force in the Eastern Conference.
Make no mistake. In every which way, it’s a dream come true for the Wizards and their long-suffering fans. Good for lottery representative and proud franchise legend John Wall for being Washington’s good-luck charm.
Lest I forget, there is comedy with Washington finally winning the lottery. The irony of it winning the lottery in the last year before it gets a lot harder for bad teams to enjoy great lottery results is also not lost on me. What a buzzer-beater for the D.C. area.
Loser: The Nets, who have to wait another year for a foundational prospect after another tough season
The Nets haven’t won more than 32 games in three seasons. They bottomed out this year with over 60 losses. By getting just the No. 6 overall pick from this year’s lottery, now all they have to show for their persistent futility is a No. 8 overall pick, Egor D?min. He, to be fair, looks like a solid winning player so far, but also seems like someone who would need exceptional development results to become a surefire superstar down the line.
Oof. Brutal. Yikes. Think of any of your disappointing adjectives. They all apply here for Brooklyn.
The good news is that third-year Nets coach Jordi Fernández seems to have a great pulse of his team. That is so vital in an ongoing rebuild. Plus, the Nets’ youth movement is already paying off. This version of them will miss getting that incremental player for now. There’s no doubt about how much this result hurts. But the Nets are still in a great position, even if their possible ascendance takes a little longer.
Winner: Every other non-Wizards team sitting in the top four of the 2026 draft order
The Wizards are the biggest winners of this draft lottery because they will get exactly who they want in the draft to complete the vision of their roster, no questions asked.
But in a draft teeming with elite on-paper talents in AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer, and Caleb Wilson, it’s fair to say that everyone in the top four — the Wizards, the Utah Jazz, the Memphis Grizzlies, and Chicago Bulls — should be very happy about these results.
Hypothetically speaking, imagine Dybantsa as the explosive, two-way key, the leader who unlocks the Wizards. Imagine the electric Peterson running being complemented by a frontcourt featuring Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. Imagine Cam Boozer following in his dad’s footsteps by also playing for the Bulls while becoming part of an intriguing young trio featuring Matas Buzelis and Josh Giddey.
All of this is possible. All of it.
Everyone in the top four should be happy because it’s easy to see everyone walking away with a fantastic long-term result.
Loser: The Pacers, whose unofficial tanking year without their star is capped by them losing their draft pick
The Pacers were hoping for better. Their transitional season without Tyrese Haliburton, as he recovers from an Achilles tendon injury, among other things, eventually became one predicated on playing for the future. The Pacers would be lying if they said they weren’t fine with a challenging 63-loss season because they knew they could luck out with a fortuitous draft lottery result that allowed them to really strengthen the team’s Tyrese Haliburton era.
That is, uh, not what happened. Not at all, in fact.
Thanks to the Ivica Zubac trade in early February, the Pacers’ falling out of the top four means their draft pick belongs to the L.A. Clippers. So, not only does Indiana not get a win-now player onto a roster that will expect to compete for a championship when Haliburton comes back, but it also loses the pick and chance to add a new player entirely. This was the equivalent of rolling snake eyes with two dice in draft lottery form. The worst luck imaginable.
To be sure, the Pacers will be fine. Haliburton is a legit franchise talisman who I trust to look like himself very quickly as soon as he’s playing again. Rick Carlisle is one of the league’s premier coaches, who almost always puts his players in a position to win. And while the Zubac trade bit the Pacers in their behind here, the way to think about that deal now is that the Pacers essentially acquired an in-his-prime Defensive Player of the Year-caliber big man for the price of a draft pick. Consider that Zubac is a better center than Myles Turner, the Pacers’ starting five in their run to the 2025 NBA Finals.
You make a deal for a player like that to add to your already-contending roster 10 times out of 10. Still, Sunday was this close to becoming a monumentous day for Pacers history.
Loser: The Atlanta Hawks, whose highly anticipated lottery ticket went bust
When the New Orleans Pelicans traded for promising center Derik Queen in last year’s draft, the Hawks looked like they had made a master stroke of a trade. With New Orleans’ draft pick in their possession after a 56-loss campaign, the Hawks had a feasible dream of adding a young star to their core, featuring Jalen Johnson, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and Dyson Daniels.
Instead, they’re picking No. 8 overall. A true catastrophe for Atlanta’s recent NBA rise. This, after the Hawks got punked by the New York Knicks in a compact six-game, first-round battle. Without a premium draft pick in tow, Atlanta looks like a high-floor team that will compete for the playoffs but a low ceiling marked by mind-numbing postseason failure.
Not what you’re hoping for, to say the least.
Winner: The entire NBA because the already-dominant Oklahoma City Thunder didn’t win jackpot
For once, on this extremely rare occasion, the rich did not get richer. Given how reality usually works, I’m pretty shocked about it, too.
To recap, no one has enjoyed more success in the NBA than the reigning champion Thunder over the last three seasons. Two likely MVP nods for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (who might also notch two straight NBA Finals MVP awards). Three straight No. 1 seeds in one of the best and deepest Western Conferences in league history. 189 wins in the regular season and 29 wins (and counting) in the playoffs. A 2025 NBA title victory.
The Thunder don’t need more help to hold complete dominion over the entire NBA universe. Until further notice, they look like they’re in the midst of an all-time hoops dynasty. They are already special, potentially even transcendent, and might be defining a generation.
And with a Clippers’ draft pick in their war chest (thanks, Paul George!), the Thunder were this close to adding a star-caliber young player on a cost-controlled contract to a roster already featuring several important contributors on incredible values. With that Clippers pick falling to No. 12 overall, the Thunder will now only be an all-time great team instead of the clear greatest team ever (which they still might be!).
Uh, phew? I guess. No, no, this is good news. It’s not like the Thunder have a history of maximizing the No. 12 pick.
Wait …
Gulp. Just when everyone thought they were out of the woods.
Winner: The moms of the 2026 NBA Draft prospects for getting to experience the lottery on Mother’s Day
Surely, I’m not the only one who, you know, pays attention to the calendar, right? Surely, everyone realized this draft lottery took place on Mother’s Day afternoon … right? I know this NBA scheduling decision was not without criticism, for putting such a big moment on one of the more important celebratory days of the year.
But have we considered the alternative, glass-half-full perspective?
Let me make this plain. Some of the upcoming NBA Draft’s top prospects got clarity on their dream future with their loving moms by their side on Mother’s Day. I couldn’t possibly think of a better present from my child if I were a parent. It doesn’t get any better than that.
This content is sourced from ftw.usatoday.com and is shared for informational purposes only.
