NBA · 2 hours ago

Ranking 6 Winners & 6 Losers from the NBA Draft Lottery

John Canady

Host · Writer

NBA Draft Lottery Order
The first round of the 2026 NBA Draft will be at 8 p.m. ET on ABC/ESPN. Sunday's NBA Draft Lottery has determined the order of the first 14 picks.

Full 2026 NBA Draft order
1. Washington Wizards
2. Utah Jazz
3. Memphis Grizzlies
4. Chicago Bulls
5. Los Angeles Clippers (via IND)
6. Brooklyn Nets
7. Sacramento Kings
8. Atlanta Hawks (via NOP)
9. Dallas Mavericks
10. Milwaukee Bucks
11. Golden State Warriors
12. Oklahoma City Thunder (via LAC)
13. Miami Heat
14. Charlotte Hornets
15. Chicago Bulls (via POR)
16. Memphis Grizzlies (via PHX)
17. Oklahoma City Thunder (via PHI)
18. Charlotte Hornets (via ORL)
19. Toronto Raptors
20. San Antonio Spurs (via ATL)
21. Detroit Pistons (via MIN)
22. Philadelphia 76ers (via HOU)
23. Atlanta Hawks (via CLE)
24. New York Knicks
25. Los Angeles Lakers
26. Denver Nuggets
27. Boston Celtics
28. Minnesota Timberwolves (via DET)
29. Cleveland Cavaliers (via SAS)
30. Dallas Mavericks (via OKC)
2026 NBA Draft Lottery Winners/Losers
The 2026 NBA Draft Lottery is officially set, and with the order now finalized ahead of June’s draft, the ripple effects around the league are already taking shape. From franchises that walked away celebrating to teams left staring at disaster, here’s a look at the six biggest winners and six biggest losers coming out of Sunday’s lottery results.

Key 2026 NBA Draft Dates
May 10: NBA Draft Lottery (Chicago)

May 10–17: AWS NBA Draft Combine (Chicago)

May 27: NCAA Early Entry Withdrawal Deadline

June 13: NBA Early Entry Withdrawal Deadline (5 p.m. ET)

June 23: NBA Draft First Round (8 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN)

June 24: NBA Draft Second Round (8 p.m. ET, ESPN)

Post-Draft & Summer League

July 3-6, 2026: California Classic Summer League (San Francisco & Sacramento)

July 4-7, 2026: Salt Lake City Summer League
1) Winner: Washington Wizards
The Washington Wizards landed the No. 1 overall pick for the first time since 2010, when the team landed the top pick to select John Wall. Ironically, Wall's presence in representing the organization during the NBA Draft Lottery on Sunday made the team's win that much more special. Regardless, for Washington, after a brutal 82-game season that led them to a league-worst 17-65 record, earning the top pick is a major win for a franchise that still lacks a true cornerstone to build around.

Whether the Wizards take a swing at AJ Dybantsa atop the draft or opt to field calls for a move down, as NBA Insider Jake Fischer suggests, for Washington, Sunday's Draft Lottery results offered the rebuilding team a much-needed boost.
1) Loser: Indiana Pacers
The Indiana Pacers may be viewed as the biggest losers of the NBA Draft Lottery not only this season but also over the last few years. After a mid-season swing to land their center, Ivica Zubac, general manager Kevin Pritchard's bold swing to offer their 2026 first-round pick with top-4 protections to the LA Clippers has resulted in a colossal failure for the team, which spent 82 games tanking in hopes of offering Tyrese Haliburton a major reinforcement to complement the star guard. With Indiana's pick landing at No. 5, the Clippers' return for Zubac couldn't look better.
2) Winner: LA Clippers
The most obvious winner of the lottery is the Clippers, who turned their trade deadline departure of Zubac into Bennedict Mathurin, Isaiah Jackson, the No. 5 overall pick, a 2029 first, and a second-round pick. LA absolutely heisted the Pacers with the fallout of this trade. If Indiana isn't able to secure a championship courtesy of their big man addition, this could be viewed as one of the most lopsided trades in recent memory.
2) Loser: Brooklyn Nets
The Brooklyn Nets' rebuild has gone almost the exact opposite way that general manager Sean Marks hoped it would when the team moved on from Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant. Brooklyn has failed to land a top-5 pick for the second season in a row, and looking at the underwhelming prospects filling out the roster, it feels as if the Nets' rebuild will take much longer than originally hoped.
3) Winner: Chicago Bulls
For the first time in a very long time, things are starting to look up for the Chicago Bulls seriously. After stumbling their way into the top five, securing the No. 4 overall pick, Chicago enters the offseason with a top pick and over $60 million in cap space for the chance to have a franchise-altering offseason. Looking at the major moves ahead of the trade deadline in February, it's safe to say the Bulls have come out on the winning side, for now, at least.
3) Loser: Milwaukee Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks didn't have much of a chance to move up in the lottery order, so landing at No. 10 shouldn't come as a surprise. However, Milwaukee's positioning in the NBA Draft order was the least of the Bucks' concerns. With the ongoing Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes, the NBA Draft Lottery was the chance for the Bucks to gain leverage on landing a top pick, assuming any of the interested suitors in the Greek Freak landed atop the draft order. Instead, the exact opposite happened, and now general manager Jon Horst's job this offseason has become much harder than it already was.
4) Winner: Utah Jazz
The Utah Jazz is arguably to thank for the NBA feeling that a change to the lottery was mandatory after tanking became an ongoing issue this season. Utah already has one of the most exciting young rosters in the league, with the likes of Keyonte George, Ace Bailey, Lauri Markkanen, and Jaren Jackson Jr. Now, they have the chance to add a top prospect, with either Dybantsa or Peterson falling to them at No. 2.

Regardless of the fallout, Utah made out well in this year's Draft Lottery.
4) Loser: Memphis Grizzlies
For the Grizzlies, landing at No. 3 overall is great news, especially considering the moves made over this past season for the Western Conference squad. Moving on from Jackson Jr., with serious doubt surrounding Ja Morant's future, it seems Memphis is committed to initiating another rebuild. Landing a top 3 pick, though, probably makes you wonder how the Grizzlies come in as a loser.

Well, it's simple. The Jazz originally secured the No. 3 overall pick, which, in theory, would have given the Grizzlies a 50/50 chance of landing either the No. 1 or No. 2 overall pick. However, when Utah's ball also landed them the No. 2 overall pick, the league was forced to redraw, which ultimately landed Memphis at No. 3. Considering the talent at the top of this draft, a top-3 pick is still an extremely solid result. Still, based on how the cards unfolded, the Grizzlies certainly got the short end of the stick.
5) Winner: Atlanta Hawks
For the Atlanta Hawks, this season was already a major success, considering the leaps from star forward Jalen Johnson and the breakout of Nickeil Alexander-Walker, which led the team to the postseason. To make things even better, Atlanta managed to land a top 10 pick courtesy of the New Orleans Pelicans, which now gives them the chance to add a blue-chip prospect to an already intriguing foundation. With the No. 8 overall pick complementing an already impressive year for Quin Snyder's squad, it's safe to say the Hawks came out on the winning side.
5) Loser: AJ Dybantsa
AJ Dybantsa is viewed as the most likely prospect to be selected at No. 1 overall, even over the likes of Kansas star Darryn Peterson, who was viewed as the top player on NBA Draft boards entering the season. Still, for a player like Dybantsa, who entered the lottery with the chance to land on a contender such as the Indiana Pacers, or even to find the league rigging the draft order like previous lotteries have suggested (shoutout Cooper Flagg and the Mavericks), the BYU star finds himself in a position where his most realistic landing spot is in the DMV, suiting up for an organization that hasn't finished with a winning record in nearly a decade.
6) Winner: Caleb Wilson
Caleb Wilson is one of the biggest risers of any prospect in the NBA Draft, even after his freshman season at North Carolina ended in injury. The versatile forward is expected to be among the considerations to be a top 3 pick, and considering the order in which the chips fell in the draft order, it feels like the possibility of those top 3 dreams being a reality received a major boost. Wilson would be the perfect fit in Memphis, and that's assuming the draft order stays the same before next month's NBA Draft. All that to say, Wilson is a major winner of how Sunday's NBA Draft Lottery unfolded.
6) Loser: Kawhi Leonard
There's no telling if Kawhi Leonard truly wants to stay put in LA after this season, but considering his West Coast ties, it felt like the star forward has prioritized staying close to home down the stretch of his career. Nonetheless, with the Clippers landing a top-five pick and considering the current state of their roster and place in the Western Conference, it feels like the Clippers are inching closer to a rebuild than to contending for a championship. With that being said, it feels like the chances that Leonard will be traded this offseason increased drastically on Sunday with the Clippers receiving a major incentive to dive headfirst into a rebuild.

That said, if Leonard wants out, he's a winner. If he doesn't, though, he walks away from this draft lottery as a loser.
NBA Draft Lottery Order
The first round of the 2026 NBA Draft will be at 8 p.m. ET on ABC/ESPN. Sunday's NBA Draft Lottery has determined the order of the first 14 picks.

Full 2026 NBA Draft order
1. Washington Wizards
2. Utah Jazz
3. Memphis Grizzlies
4. Chicago Bulls
5. Los Angeles Clippers (via IND)
6. Brooklyn Nets
7. Sacramento Kings
8. Atlanta Hawks (via NOP)
9. Dallas Mavericks
10. Milwaukee Bucks
11. Golden State Warriors
12. Oklahoma City Thunder (via LAC)
13. Miami Heat
14. Charlotte Hornets
15. Chicago Bulls (via POR)
16. Memphis Grizzlies (via PHX)
17. Oklahoma City Thunder (via PHI)
18. Charlotte Hornets (via ORL)
19. Toronto Raptors
20. San Antonio Spurs (via ATL)
21. Detroit Pistons (via MIN)
22. Philadelphia 76ers (via HOU)
23. Atlanta Hawks (via CLE)
24. New York Knicks
25. Los Angeles Lakers
26. Denver Nuggets
27. Boston Celtics
28. Minnesota Timberwolves (via DET)
29. Cleveland Cavaliers (via SAS)
30. Dallas Mavericks (via OKC)
2026 NBA Draft Lottery Winners/Losers
The 2026 NBA Draft Lottery is officially set, and with the order now finalized ahead of June’s draft, the ripple effects around the league are already taking shape. From franchises that walked away celebrating to teams left staring at disaster, here’s a look at the six biggest winners and six biggest losers coming out of Sunday’s lottery results.

Key 2026 NBA Draft Dates
May 10: NBA Draft Lottery (Chicago)

May 10–17: AWS NBA Draft Combine (Chicago)

May 27: NCAA Early Entry Withdrawal Deadline

June 13: NBA Early Entry Withdrawal Deadline (5 p.m. ET)

June 23: NBA Draft First Round (8 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN)

June 24: NBA Draft Second Round (8 p.m. ET, ESPN)

Post-Draft & Summer League

July 3-6, 2026: California Classic Summer League (San Francisco & Sacramento)

July 4-7, 2026: Salt Lake City Summer League