Washington Wizards win the NBA draft lottery, Indiana's pick lands with the Clippers
The Washington Wizards won the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft at the lottery in Chicago on Tuesday evening. Their entering odds were 14 percent; ESPN's pre-draw simulations had placed the team's chance of landing the top selection at 13.6 percent. Returning to the lottery for the fourth time in three seasons, the franchise drew the No. 1 ball for the first time.
As the draft's lead favourite, BYU's 6-foot-9 forward A.J. Dybantsa stands out. The 19-year-old American from Massachusetts averaged 22.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists in his only college season. His combination of long-range pull-up shooting and transition speed has placed him among the most coveted "generational" prospects of the last three years, and his alignment with the Wizards' direction makes the selection especially apt. ESPN's lead draft scout Jonathan Givony had Dybantsa at No. 1 in his post-lottery mock draft.
The second major surprise of the order came on a conditional pick the Indiana Pacers had owed. Indiana's lottery-protected 2026 pick, traded to the Los Angeles Clippers via the Toronto Raptors in summer 2023, transferred away because the Pacers fell to fifth rather than rising into the top four. Under the conditions of the agreement, the pick had to stay in Indiana only if it landed at fourth overall or better; the draw set the Pacers at fifth, sending the pick directly to the Clippers. Pacers president Kevin Pritchard said: "We want to say to our fans that we're sorry. We will be exploring other avenues this summer."
The Clippers, with the No. 5 pick, are targeting a wing player. The team's basketball operations led by Lawrence Frank are believed to be considering athletic defenders such as Vince Williams Jr. or Cliff Omoruyi. The Clippers are completing their fourth season at the Intuit Dome, built by Steve Ballmer in 2024, and are in a rebuild after James Harden and Russell Westbrook's departures. The No. 5 pick offers the team the chance to add a young defensive cornerstone.
The other winner of the night was the Charlotte Hornets, who moved up to the No. 2 position. They emerged as the only Eastern Conference team in the lottery in consecutive years. With the No. 2 pick, Charlotte is reported to be weighing BYU's other rising star Egor Demin, or, should Duke wing Cooper Flagg withdraw from this year's draft, Kentucky forward Jaden Bradley. It is Charlotte's first time picking second overall or higher since 2009.
ESPN draft analyst Mike Schmitz published his top-10 in this order: 1. Wizards – A.J. Dybantsa, 2. Hornets – Cameron Boozer (Duke), 3. Jazz – Karim Mane (Kentucky), 4. Pelicans – Drake Powell (UNC), 5. Clippers – Cliff Omoruyi (Rutgers), 6. Pistons – Khaman Maluach (Duke), 7. Bulls – Boogie Fland (UConn), 8. Spurs – Tre Johnson (Texas), 9. Trail Blazers – Tre White (LSU), 10. Hawks – VJ Edgecombe (Baylor). The mock order has shifted four times in the past three months as scouts' observation cycles progressed.
Wizards president Michael Winger took a confident tone after the lottery: "We're going to put this pick at the centre of the rebuild we've been planning for years. We'll invest in the chemistry between our young players Bilal Coulibaly, Alex Sarr and now our No. 1 pick. This is the cornerstone of a three-year plan." Winger also hinted that the Wizards would actively pursue trades over the summer to reshape Bradley Beal's remaining contract and the veteran framework.
The 2026 NBA Draft will be held on June 25 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. ESPN's Malika Andrews, observing the lottery, said on air after the ceremony: "This is an evening when something Wizards fans have been waiting roughly a decade for has finally happened." The Wizards will make the No. 1 selection for the first time since 1994; the player chosen that year, Michael Olowokandi, did not match the projected value, and the team's wait has since stretched into a decades-long drought.
Among the draft's second-round surprises is the question of where Turkish forward Adem Bona — recently returned from European basketball — will land. Bona has raised his pre-draft viewership through his performance with the NBL's Sydney Kings in Australia. ESPN places him on the radar of Oklahoma City Thunder or Boston Celtics around the No. 22 range.
The lottery results have also reopened debate over the success of the NBA's new balance mechanism. The "smoothed odds" system, implemented in 2024, equalised the chance of the worst three teams landing the No. 1 pick; how the system can also push mid-bottom teams such as the Wizards into the top positions has been a recurring topic during the lottery. NBA commissioner Adam Silver said after the ceremony that the system "is designed to give hope to a wider range of teams, and that it is performing as intended statistically." The lottery results provide an important data point for the league's balance policy.