Result: The Wizards Won
The May 10 drawing in Chicago broke for the Washington Wizards, who land the No. 1 pick. The post-lottery top five: 1. Washington, 2. Utah Jazz, 3. Memphis Grizzlies, 4. Chicago Bulls, 5. LA Clippers (via Indiana). The full board is on the 2026 NBA Draft Board.
The Tie That Made the Lottery Interesting
Under the NBA's 2019-revised lottery formula, the three worst regular-season records each receive 14.0% odds. The 2025-26 season produced a rare three-way tie at 16-66: the Washington Wizards, Indiana Pacers, and Brooklyn Nets all finished with identical records — the first three-way tie at the top of the lottery since 1985. Washington won the drawing; Brooklyn fell to sixth and Indiana's pick (which conveys to the Clippers) landed fifth.
Full 2026 Lottery Odds Table
| Slot | Team | Record | #1 Odds | Top-4 Odds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Washington Wizards | 16-66 | 14.0% | 52.1% |
| 2 | Indiana Pacers | 16-66 | 14.0% | 52.1% |
| 3 | Brooklyn Nets | 16-66 | 14.0% | 52.1% |
| 4 | Utah Jazz | 19-63 | 12.5% | 48.1% |
| 5 | Sacramento Kings | 23-59 | 10.5% | 42.1% |
| 6 | Memphis Grizzlies | 26-56 | 9.0% | 37.2% |
| 7 | Dallas Mavericks | 28-54 | 7.5% | 31.9% |
Slots 8-14 follow the standard tiering (6.0% / 4.5% / 3.0% / 2.0% / 1.5% / 1.0% / 0.5%). Slots 15-30 are inverse playoff finish.
Pingpong-Ball Math, In English
Fourteen lottery balls numbered 1-14. Four are drawn (without regard to order), producing a four-number combination. There are 1,001 possible combinations. The bottom three teams each get 140 combinations (140 / 1,001 = 14.0%). One combination — 11-12-13-14 — is set aside; if drawn, the lottery is redrawn. The remaining 1,000 combinations are split among the lottery teams to produce the published odds. The drawing happens four times: once each for slots 1, 2, 3, and 4. Slots 5-14 are filled in inverse order of regular-season record.
What the Top of the Board Does Now
Washington (No. 1): The overwhelming favorite to take AJ Dybantsa — a clean jumbo-wing fit next to Bilal Coulibaly and Alex Sarr.
Utah (No. 2): The most-rumored landing spot for Darryn Peterson, the lead-guard cornerstone the Jazz lack — though Cameron Boozer is in play.
Memphis (No. 3): Jumped up to grab Boozer if he's there, a frontcourt piece to grow next to Jaren Jackson Jr.
Chicago (No. 4) & the Clippers (No. 5, via Indiana): Caleb Wilson and a combo-guard run begin here.
The 1985 Precedent
The last NBA lottery with three teams at identical odds for the top pick was 1985 — the year the lottery system itself debuted, and the year the New York Knicks selected Patrick Ewing first overall. That lottery had a different mechanism (envelope draws), but the three-way-tie probability tree has not been repeated in the 41 years since. The 2026 lottery is the first true rerun of that probability structure.
See also: The Big Three: Dybantsa vs Peterson vs Boozer · 2026 NBA Class Overview · NBA Draft Hub