2026 NBA Draft Lottery: Schedule, history, each team's odds, lottery explained

No. 2 Indiana Pacers

Odds to land No. 1 pick 14%; odds to land in top four 52.1%
If Indiana's pick falls out of the top four — basically a coin-toss chance — their pick goes to the LA Clippers as part of the Ivica Zubac trade. Either way, with Zubac, a healthy Tyrese Haliburton, Pascal Siakam and the rest of a core that went to the Finals a year ago, it's going to be a bounce-back season in Indiana. But put a top-four pick in that mix and it gets more interesting.

No. 3 Brooklyn Nets

Odds to land No. 1 pick 14%; odds to land in top four 52.1%
Brooklyn used all five of the first round picks they had on players last year in the draft and... meh. It was not a great showing, although some had flashes of potential. Brooklyn is a team that needs some lottery luck to jumpstart their rebuild.

No. 4 Utah Jazz

Odds to land No. 1 pick 11.5%; odds to land in top four 45.2%
The lottery gods owe Utah some luck — and keeping AJ Dybansta in Utah would be huge for the franchise — but those gods can be fickle. Either way, Utah is done losing: Adding a high draft pick to a core of Keyonte George in the backcourt with Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. up front, this is a team thinking playoffs next season.

No. 5 Sacramento Kings

Odds to land No. 1 pick 11.5%; odds to land in top four 45.2%
Sacramento is in the midst of (another) rebuild, and they — and their passionate, long-suffering fans — deserve a break and a top pick to be a cornerstone for whatever is next.

No. 6 Memphis Grizzlies

Odds to land No. 1 pick 9%; odds to land in top four 37.2%
With this team in a rebuild (including the expectation Ja Morant is traded this summer for more picks and/or young players), it's simple for the Grizzlies: Take the best player on the board. If the Grizzlies fall in the 5-8 range and get one of the dynamic young point guards in that mix, there would be a natural fit.

No. 7 Atlanta Hawks (via New Orleans)

Odds to land No. 1 pick 6.8%; odds to land in top four 29.3%
Actually, Atlanta's odds are slightly better than that because it has the swap rights to the better of New Orleans or Milwaukee's picks, so technically they have a 9.8% chance at the top pick and a 43.2% chance of landing in the top four. Wherever they land, they're adding another good player to a core being built out around Jalen Johnson.

No. 8 Dallas Mavericks

Odds to land No. 1 pick 6.7%; odds to land in top four 29%
Can you imagine the uproar around the league — and the conspiracy theories that will fly — if the Mavericks get the No. 1 pick again? Wherever they fall, the Mavericks are looking to add a young talent to play with Cooper Flagg long-term.

No. 9 Chicago Bulls

Odds to land No. 1 pick 4.5%; odds to land in top four 20.3%
Bryson Graham, the Bulls new head of basketball operations (a former VP with the Hawks) will be making this pick. He's got a lot of work ahead of him, but some lottery luck would speed up the process.

No. 10 Milwaukee Bucks

Odds to land No. 1 pick 0; odds to land in top four 13.9%
Technically, the No. 10 slot has a 3% chance of jumping up to the No. 1 pick, but because Atlanta has swap rights, the Hawks would swoop in if the Bucks got lucky, and Milwaukee would get New Orleans's pick. On the optimistic side, if both New Orleans and Milwaukee jumped into the top four, the Bucks would get that pick. However, there is an 84.9% chance the Bucks pick at No. 10 or 11. What the Bucks ultimately do with this pick will depend on what is decided with Giannis Antetokounmpo before the draft.

No. 11 Golden State Warriors

Odds to land No. 1 pick 2%; odds to land in top four 9.4%
Stephen Curry is still there and still one of the league's best players, but the Warriors also need to look to what is next and draft (then develop) players that will be part of that future. They've had some high-profile misses on that front in the past.

No. 12 Oklahoma City Thunder (via LA Clippers)

Odds to land No. 1 pick 1.5%; odds to land in top four 7.1%
Like if Dallas jumped all the way up, if the lottery gods favored the Thunder this year there would be an uproar. Whatever happens, the smartest drafting team in the league is going to add a lottery pick to its already dominant, young roster.

No. 13 Miami Heat

Odds to land No. 1 pick 1%; odds to land in top four 4.8%
Miami could use the infusion of some more youth and athleticism in the roster, but this team isn't tanking and rebuilding, so what they will do with this pick remains a mystery.

No. 14 Charlotte Hornets

Odds to land No. 1 pick 0.5%; odds to land in top four 2.4%
Adding another quality young player to a roster with standout rookie Kon Knueppel, LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller will make this team even more of a must-watch group next season.

Who will represent each team at the lottery?

How does the NBA Draft Lottery work?

This is the last year the NBA will use this system to determine its draft order for teams that don't make the playoffs. Only the first four picks are determined by the lottery, picks 5-30 follow the reverse standings of whoever is left (although trades will impact which team actually makes those selections).

The system uses 14 numbered ping-pong balls, put into a lottery machine, creating 1001 possible combinations. Four numbered balls are randomly extracted at a time, and each lottery team is assigned a certain number of those combinations, based on its record, which gives us the odds for each team. This random extraction process is completed four times to select the top four picks.

Note that in the last two years, teams have jumped from way down the board up to No. 1. Two years ago, in 2024, it was Atlanta, with a 3% chance, that jumped to No. 1 and selected Zaccharie Risacher. Last year in 2025, it was famously Dallas with a 1.8% chance that leapfrogged everyone to get the No. 1 pick and select Cooper Flagg.

Which team has won the NBA Draft Lottery the most times?

Three teams have won the NBA Draft Lottery three times: The Cleveland Cavaliers, LA Clippers and Orlando Magic.

In an odd twist, the Cavaliers got the top pick in 2011 (the year they drafted Kyrie Irving) after acquiring the Clippers' pick at the trade deadline — if LA had held on to that pick, it would have made the top selection five times (and could have gotten Irving).