NBA resolves tie situations for 2026 draft order; Jazz retain safeguarded selection
The NBA executed its tiebreaking procedure for the league’s 2026 draft on Monday afternoon, establishing the order from 15 to 30 and resolving a couple of ties among teams positioned within the lottery.
The most significant outcome, determined by a random drawing at the league’s headquarters in Secaucus, N.J., resolved the tie for the fourth overall position in the lottery between the Sacramento Kings and the Utah Jazz, with Utah securing the rights to the fourth position and Sacramento taking the fifth.
Regarding the lottery itself, the tiebreaker does not alter much, as both teams share the odds assigned to the fourth and fifth positions in the draft. Consequently, both teams possess a 45.2% chance of moving into the top four and an 11.5% chance of obtaining the top pick. However, since Utah has a top-eight protected pick that would go to the Oklahoma City Thunder if it fell to ninth, Utah finishing fifth would have created a very slight risk of the Jazz losing their draft pick.
This scenario would have necessitated that four of the nine picks behind Utah in the lottery all advance into the top four ahead of the Jazzβa highly improbable outcome. Nevertheless, it would have been a possibility had Utah ended up fifth. Instead, by securing the fourth position, the Jazz now ensure they retain their pick, and Oklahoma City will not receive anything.
Additionally, five other ties were resolved. The remaining lottery selections to be determined were the seventh and eighth picks, with the New Orleans Pelicans acquiring the seventh lottery position and the Dallas Mavericks obtaining the eighth. However, New Orleans will not receive that draft pick, regardless of its outcome in the lottery, due to the trade made with the Atlanta Hawks last June. Instead, it will be the Hawks who receive the superior pick between New Orleans and the Milwaukee Bucks, who hold the 10th lottery position, with Milwaukee getting the lesser of the two selections.
The Dallas and New Orleans picks both carry a 29% chance of moving up in the lottery and a 6.3% chance of landing the top overall pick.
The other tiebreaks were as follows:
β’ The 16th, 17th, and 18th picks will be made by the Memphis Grizzlies, Thunder, and Charlotte Hornets, respectivelyβthough none of these teams originally possessed those picks. Instead, Oklahoma City is selecting with Philadelphia’s pick, while Memphis received the better of Orlando and Phoenix’s selections, and Charlotte obtained the lesser.
β’ The 19th pick will be made by the Toronto Raptors, and the 20th pick will be made by the San Antonio Spurs, who have Atlanta’s first-round pick in this year’s draft.
β’ The Philadelphia 76ers will select 22nd using what was originally Houston’s first-round selection, while the 23rd pick will be made by the Hawks, who possess Cleveland’s first-round pick.
β’ Lastly, the New York Knicks will select 24th, and the Los Angeles Lakers will choose 25th.
The NBA’s draft lottery is scheduled for May 10 in Chicago, where the league’s draft combine will take place from May 10-17. The NBA draft will once again be a two-night event at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, with the first round on June 23 and the second round on June 24.
The deadline for early entrant players to decide whether to enter this year’s draft is Friday.
