The Washington Wizards, who had the worst record in the NBA this past season, won the NBA Draft Lottery on Monday (AEST) to claim the top pick in next month’s draft.
Washington went 17-65 in the 2025-26 campaign, their second-worst record in team history after a 15-win season in 2023-24 — the Wizards losing 26 of their last 27 games, including the final 10 in a row.
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That gave the Wizards a 14 per cent chance at the top pick, and they bagged the selection that that could add a star player to theirs struggling line-up. The Wizards obtained star guard Trae Young from Atlanta in a January trade and power forward Anthony Davis in a February trade with Dallas.
After last year’s drama of the Dallas Mavericks landing the top pick with a 1.8 per cent chance and drafting Cooper Flagg, it was a more predictable result for the No. 1 pick this year.
It’s the first time Washington has had the top pick since the Wizards drafted John Wall at No. 1 back in 2010. The Wizards have had a handful of top 10 picks in recent years but this is a chance to land a genuine franchise superstar.
The top pick would be another key player in trying to bolster a squad that has not advanced past the second round of the playoffs since reaching the 1979 NBA Finals. The Wizards have not reached the playoffs since 2021 and have not won a playoff series since 2017.
The biggest shock of the draft came when the Indiana Pacers’ pick dropped to fifth, meaning that pick would be sent to the Los Angeles Clippers as part of the Ivica Zubac trade.
The Pacers entered the lottery with a 52 per cent chance that their pick would land inside the top-four. If it fell below that, it would convey to the Clippers.
Indiana’s GM of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard wrote on X: “I’m really sorry to all our fans. I own taking this risk. Surprised it came up 5th after this year. I thought we were due some luck.
“But please remember – this team deserved a starting centre to compete with the best teams next year. We have always been resilient.”
It’s a disaster for the Pacers, who tanked last season with franchise star Tyrese Haliburton injured and would have been banking on landing a top-four pick after having the second worst win-loss record out of all teams.
Instead of the Pacers adding another talent around Haliburton, Zubac and a solid young core, they will miss out on a generational prospect.
Elsewhere, Josh Giddey’s Chicago Bulls landed the fourth pick in the draft, a very positive result considering the Bulls had the ninth worst record last season.
The Bulls are widely tipped to draft Cameron Boozer, the son of two-time All-Star and Olympic gold medallist Carlos Boozer.
Chicago is desperate to land a franchise star to support Giddey and Matas Buzelis, and the Bulls would be satisfied with getting pick No. 4 in the draft.
NBA DRAFT LOTTERY RESULTS
1. Washington Wizards
2. Utah Jazz
3. Memphis Grizzlies
4. Chicago Bulls
5. LA Clippers
6. Brooklyn Nets
7. Sacramento Kings
8. Atlanta Hawks
9. Dallas Mavericks
10. Milwaukee Bucks
11. Golden State Warriors
12. Oklahoma City Thunder
13. Miami Heat
14. Charlotte Hornets
Who are the top prospects in the NBA Draft?
A.J. Dybantsa, a 19-year-old forward of Congolese and Jamaican origin, and Darryn Peterson, a 19-year-old guard, are considered the most likely US college stars to be taken first overall.
The NBA Draft, the annual allocation of top available talent, will be staged on June 23-24.
Utah received the second pick with Memphis third and Chicago fourth, all three clubs moving up despite longer odds of doing so in the selection process.
The fifth pick went to the Los Angeles Clippers from Indiana in a trade for Croatian centre Ivica Zubac.
Brooklyn received the sixth pick followed in order by Sacramento, Atlanta (from New Orleans), Dallas, Milwaukee, Golden State, Oklahoma City (from the Clippers in a trade for Paul George), Miami and Charlotte.
All 14 teams that missed the NBA playoffs were entered into the lottery, with teams that finished worst in the regular season given the best chance at landing the first selection.
Washington, Indiana (19-63) and Brooklyn (20-62) each had a 14% chance at the first choice with Utah and Sacramento, both 22-60, each having an 11.5% opportunity.
The current system ensured the worst overall team selected no lower than fifth, but concerns over late-season tanking to boost lottery hopes have led NBA commissioner Adam Silver to say there will be changes to the lottery system before next season.
– With AFP
