The Washington Wizards have lost 206 games in the last three seasons. That futility was finally rewarded with the top pick in the NBA Draft.
The top four behind Washington were rounded out with the Utah Jazz at No. 2, the Memphis Grizzlies at No. 3 and the Chicago Bulls jumping up to No. 4. Here are the winners and losers from the dramatic 2026 NBA draft lottery.
Winners
Washington Wizards
The Wizards’ tanking got ugly by the end of the season, with the team surrendering an 83-point game to Bam Adebayo. The agony of a 17-65 season may be worth it now that the Wizards get their pick of the 2026 draft class to pair with 2024’s No. 2 pick Alex Sarr, last season’s No. 6 pick Tre Johnson and rehabbing former All-Stars Trae Young and Anthony Davis.
The last time Washington picked first? 2010, when they took John Wall and laid the foundation for a team that won three playoff series from 2014-17. For a franchise that’s won four playoff series in total since 1982, the ping-pong balls going their way were huge.
The Clippers traded starting center Ivica Zubac to the Indiana Pacers for a package including the Pacers’ first-round pick, which had interesting protection. Had the pick ended up 1-4 or 10-14, the Pacers would have kept it. Instead, the Clippers can add an elite young player to a team that’s reshuffling, if not outright rebuilding their veteran roster.
The Jazz made a blockbuster deal to acquire All-Star forward Jaren Jackson, Jr. from the Grizzlies, who had signed Jackson to a massive contract extension just last summer. The Grizzlies continued to dismantle the core of their playoff team, moving Jackson months after trading Desmond Bane and with Ja Morant firmly on the trade block.
Now the Jazz can add the No. 2 pick in the draft to Jackson and All-Star Lauri Markkanen, which could be standout BYU freshman AJ Dybantsa, who played his college ball in Utah. The Grizzlies had a haul of other teams’ draft picks from the Jackson and Bane trades, but it’s their own pick — thanks to some extreme tanking after dealing Jackson — that gets them their first shot at another elite talent.
Losers
The Pelicans brain trust of Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver was very aggressive before last year’s draft. On the same day as Game 7 of the NBA Finals, the Pelicans traded Indiana’s 2026 first-rounder back to them, in exchange for the Pacers’ No. 23 pick in 2025. Then, the Pelicans sent that pick to the Atlanta Hawks, along with their own 2026 first-rounder, for No. 13 pick Derik Queen.
That means the Pelicans traded the picks that ended up No. 5 and No. 8 this June for pick No. 13. Queen had a fine rookie season, averaging 11.1 points, 7.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists, but he was not worth that kind of draft capital.
Indiana Pacers
The Pacers took a calculated risk dealing a protected first-rounder for a veteran center, and that risk did not pay off. Indiana had the NBA’s second-worst record during a year Tyrese Haliburton missed with an Achilles tear, but fell to fifth in the draft and lost their pick. It’s never a good sign when your team’s GM has to apologize to the fans.
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