The 2026 NBA Draft Lottery is set for next week, with the Washington Wizards, Indiana Pacers, and Brooklyn Nets each holding a 14% chance for the No. 1 pick. This lottery may be the last in its current format as the league considers changes to discourage tanking.
Key points
2026 NBA Draft Lottery is less than a week away
Wizards, Pacers, and Nets have highest odds at 14%
Oklahoma City Thunder could win with Clippers' pick
Last lottery in current format before potential changes
Mentioned in this story
Paul George
Cooper FlaggWashington WizardsIndiana PacersBrooklyn Nets
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The NBA Draft Lottery is less than a week away. The Washington Wizards, Indiana Pacers and Brooklyn Nets each have the highest odds — 14% — in the lottery to land the No. 1 pick in what is expected to be a loaded draft. Recent years also have seen a number of teams jump bottom of the lottery into the top three of the draft, including the Dallas Mavericks, who won the lottery last year and earned the right to take the future Rookie of the Year, Cooper Flagg.
The defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder, who had the best record for the second season in a row, could even win the lottery. They own the Los Angeles Clippers’ pick courtesy of the Paul George trade.
This figures to be the final NBA Draft Lottery in its current format before the league likely puts a new system in place for next season in an effort to reduce teams tanking for better odds. Here’s everything you need to know about the 2026 including, the top prospects.
What are the odds for the top teams in the 2026 NBA Draft Lottery?
The Washington Wizards, Indiana Pacers, and Brooklyn Nets each have a 14% chance of securing the No. 1 pick.
When is the 2026 NBA Draft Lottery scheduled?
The 2026 NBA Draft Lottery is scheduled to take place less than a week from now.
How does the NBA Draft Lottery work?
The NBA Draft Lottery determines the order of selection for teams that did not make the playoffs, using a weighted system to give teams with worse records better odds.
What changes are expected for the NBA Draft Lottery format in the future?
The league is likely to implement a new system next season aimed at reducing teams tanking for better draft odds.
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The lottery is at 3 p.m. ET Sunday, May 10. It will be at Chicago’s McCormick Place convention center and coincides with the draft combine.
Where is the NBA Draft Lottery streaming?
It will be on ABC, ahead of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinal playoff series between the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers.
NBA Draft Lottery odds to land the No. 1 pick
The 14 teams that didn't make the playoffs have a chance to land the No. 1 pick. The teams that finished with the three-worst records — Washington, Indiana and Brooklyn — each have the highest odds (14%) at winning the No. 1 pick.
Here are the odds for every team in the draft lottery, based on team records at the end of the regular season. Teams that finished the season with identical records had their draft order determined by a random drawing.
The draft lottery determines the order of the first 14 picks. It takes place in a private room with NBA officials, representatives of participating teams, select media and the accounting firm Ernst & Young, which oversees the drawings, in attendance.
For the drawings, 14 ping-pong balls (numbered 1 through 14) are dropped in a lottery machine. Before the lottery, 1,000 of a possible 1,001 combinations are assigned to the 14 participating lottery teams. A league representative randomly selects four balls, revealing a four-number combination.
From the NBA:
The drawing process occurs in the following manner: All 14 balls are placed in the lottery machine and they are mixed for 20 seconds, and then the first ball is removed. The remaining balls are mixed in the lottery machine for another 10 seconds, and then the second ball is drawn. There is a 10-second mix, and then the third ball is drawn. There is a 10-second mix, and then the fourth ball is drawn. The team that has been assigned that combination will receive the No. 1 pick. The same process is repeated with the same ping-pong balls and lottery machine for the second through fourth picks.
If the same team comes up more than once, the result is discarded and another four-ball combination is selected. Also, if the one unassigned combination is drawn, the result is discarded and the balls are drawn again.
After the first four picks are determined, the remaining picks are based on regular-season records, in reverse order.
Dybantsa could become one of the NBA’s most unstoppable shot-creators. At 6-foot-9, he has a special blend of athletic tools with the way he bends, shifts, and explodes with the ball in his hands. Dybantsa led the nation with 25.5 points per game while breaking Danny Ainge’s 48-year-old BYU freshman scoring record with a 43-point eruption. He gets to the rim at will, cooks in the midrange, draws fouls at a high rate, and displays point-forward potential. What will determine his upside is whether he can become a knockdown 3-point shooter, as well as a more impactful defender to take full advantage of his physical tools. But the native of Brockton, Massachusetts, has a tremendously high floor with his scoring skill alone. — Kevin O’Connor
He’s a do-it-all offensive talent who can post up, run pick-and-rolls, set screens, spot up and crash the boards. He doesn’t need to rely on bully ball to make an impact as a scorer or passer. Defensively, some of the questions about Boozer popped up in Duke’s Elite Eight loss to UConn: He wasn’t big enough to defend Tarris Reed, and he got smoked by Alex Karaban on a key 3-pointer on the perimeter. But he plays hard and has improved at every weakness in his game so far. — O’Connor
Darryn Peterson
He can pull up from anywhere and get to his spots. Plus he’s 6-6 and plays with a fluidity that just screams superstar. Not to mention he’s a defensive playmaker with the tools to guard multiple positions and the approach to impact the game even if he’s not scoring. Between the cramping saga, the missed time, the lack of apparent athletic pop, and the stretches where he played heavy minutes but struggled to produce offensively, there’s a lot to be concerned about. But the pre-draft period could answer any questions. — O’Connor
Caleb Wilson
Wilson is the most gifted athlete in the draft class. He's 6-10 with springs for legs. When he's flying above the rim, finishing through contact, and chasing down every shot in his area code, he looks like a future franchise cornerstone. But the conversation changes when you watch his jumper because he hasn’t shown any consistency as a shooter at any level. Still, even without the jumper, he has star upside. — O’Connor
Darius Acuff Jr.
Acuff is not the biggest guard or the most explosive athlete, but he reads defenses like someone who's been in the league for a decade. He emerged as a freshman as a skilled, low-turnover playmaker. And that’s not even what he’s best at. Acuff is a wiry scorer who can get a bucket from anywhere on the floor with a quick trigger, slippery handle, and a feel for manipulating defenses. He has a knack for clutch moments too. The question that follows every undersized guard into the draft is whether the brilliance survives contact with bigger, longer, faster defenders. — O’Connor
When and where is the 2026 NBA Draft?
The 2026 NBA Draft will again be two days: Tuesday, June 23 for the first round; and Wednesday, June 24 for the second round. Both rounds are in Brooklyn, New York.
ABC/ESPN will broadcast the first round, and the second round will be on ESPN.
Is the NBA Draft Lottery changing?
Almost certainly. NBA commissioner Adam Silver wants to curb the wide-spread tanking teams engaged in ahead of this season’s draft.
The league reportedly will put forth a new 3-2-1 format for a vote by team owners on May 28. The new format will create a system where each team gets a certain number of ping-pong balls to win the No. 1 pick. Here’s how it looks in reverse order of the standings and then play-in game participants:
No. 1-3: two ping-pong balls (5.4%)
No. 4-10: three ping-pong balls (8.1%)
Teams in 9-10 play-in games: two ping-pong balls (5.4%)
Losers of 7-8 play-in games: one ping-pong ball (2.7%)
The league hopes non-playoff teams will be incentivized to stay competitive late in the season. It also provides the No. 8 seeds in the East and West at least one shot at the top pick.
In addition, the league will not allow teams to win the top pick in back-to-back seasons or win a top-five pick in three consecutive seasons.
