The 2026 NBA Draft Lottery took place last night as the Washington Wizards won the No. 1 pick in what is considered to be one of the strongest draft classes in recent memory. There is plenty of top-end talent to target across the lottery, but some teams are definitely much happier than others, as the lottery always stings a bunch of teams on the wrong side of it.
The 2025-26 NBA season saw eight teams lose 56 games or more, so it’s clear that not all eight teams would leave lottery night happy. But the ones who left happy are ecstatic, as they have an opportunity to completely reshape their franchises with the generational talents on offer. Fadeaway World’s post-lottery mock draft has AJ Dybantsa going as the No. 1 pick to the Wizards.
Let’s take a deeper look at the five teams that left lottery night as true winners with a bright future.
1. Los Angeles Clippers
They might not have gotten the No. 1 pick, but the LA Clippers ended up on the right side of one of the biggest trade gambles in recent history. The Indiana Pacers had sent the Clippers Ivica Zubac for a trade package with Bennedict Mathurin, a 2029 first-round pick, and a 2028 second-round pick. The last pick in the deal was a protected 2026 first-round pick, which would stay with the Pacers if it stayed in the top four. It would go to the Clippers if it were between 5 and 10.
Indiana’s 52% chance of keeping the pick was blown out of the water, as the Pacers pick was jumped by teams like the Bulls and Grizzlies, dropping it to No. 5 and into the Clippers hands. This is a shot in the arm for a team that looked to have a bleak future last offseason. They didn’t own their future picks and had an injury-prone and aging core. But now, they have a young and exciting team with a potential star guard joining the team at No. 5.
This pick allows the Clippers to choose their own future. They could make a selection to have a future cornerstone given the depth of the draft, with No. 5 giving the Clippers first dibs on the players outside the presumed locked top four picks. Darius Acuff Jr., Keaton Wagler, Mikel Brown Jr., and more could all be interesting picks to safeguard the future of the franchise. They could also trade the pick to bolster the win-now core around Kawhi Leonard, but at least the team gets to choose one way or the other.
Their own lottery pick went to the OKC Thunder at a modest No. 12, so this was definitely a night they went home feeling like winners.
2. Washington Wizards
The Washington Wizards are the true big winners of the 2026 NBA Draft Lottery, but they also had the best odds to end up with the No. 1 pick. This was the first time since 2016 that the team with the worst record actually ended up getting the top pick, with this selection likely ending five years of tanking. The Wizards will have their pick of the top prospects like AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, and Cameron Boozer. They also might choose to trade the pick for a massive haul of future assets and focus on contending immediately with their Anthony Davis and Trae Young duo.
The Wizards likely won’t entertain moving anywhere out of the top two, since drafting Boozer or Caleb Wilson presents rotational issues for a Wizards roster overloaded with frontcourt players. However, they can easily accommodate Dybantsa or Peterson into their rotation and continue contending. It’d be short-sighted to trade the pick, but unless a team like the Brooklyn Nets offers up a mountain of future picks, that doesn’t seem to be a realistic possibility anyway.
Peterson could fit into the backcourt with Young, while Dybantsa could take the starting small forward spot away from Kyshawn George and Bilal Coulibaly. That’s a good problem to have for the Wizards, with both players said to have generational potential.
The Wizards have had mixed luck in the lottery over the years, but last night’s lottery win should hopefully help them climb out of the bottom of the East, also bolstered by the Young-Davis duo they seem to have put in place.
3. Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls are in the midst of an offseason makeover after firing their old team President to hire Bryson Graham and watching head coach Billy Donovan step down from his role despite the organization trying to convince him to stay. The franchise is heading into a new era and is guaranteed to pick one of the four coveted talents in this draft. Unless something dramatic happens, they’ll be selecting Caleb Wilson in June, or potentially Cam Boozer if the No. 3 Grizzlies prefer Wilson’s skill-set to Boozer’s.
The Bulls already have winning pieces in place, like Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis, but they have a lot more work to do. Their pick will likely enter a roster with ample opportunity, with a pass-first guard like Giddey, who will definitely be a huge boost. They also still have multiple guards under contract who they could trade for other assets or to create a more functional win-now rotation around Giddey, Buzelis, and whoever they pick at No. 4.
The Bulls had the best odds for the No. 9 pick, so this jump might be a sign of good fortune as the franchise undergoes major changes. Hopefully, this change leads to winning basketball coming back to Chicago.
4. Memphis Grizzlies
The Memphis Grizzlies did everything they could to tank last season, including ending the season with eight-straight losses to end up one spot lower than the Dallas Mavericks, which proved to be a huge factor. The Mavericks saw their pick fall to No. 9 while the Grizzlies took that spot and rode it all the way to the No. 3 pick in the lottery. Barring any major changes in the top-end draft order, the Grizzlies will have the choice to pick between Cameron Boozer and Caleb Wilson. They could also easily accommodate Dybantsa or Peterson if they fell to No. 3, given their malleable roster.
The franchise might still hope that Ja Morant can come back and be an effective leader after spending most of last season on the bench and in trade rumors. Even if the Morant timeline has ended for the Grizzlies, they could have a new franchise cornerstone to build around in a few months. They also have the bones of a competitive roster with players like Jaylen Wells, GG Jackson, Ty Jerome, Zach Edey, and more.
Draft lottery luck has fallen their way; now, Memphis needs to have a season with good injury luck. Their last two seasons led to tanking because the roster had been upended with injuries in the opening months of the season. If they could find good health on the court, the Grizzlies might have the opportunity to return to contention in the West.
The Morant situation might drag on, but the Grizzlies have something to look forward to.
5. Utah Jazz
The No. 2 pick recipients could’ve been higher on this list, but the years of blatant tanking might genuinely not have been worth it. The Utah Jazz ensured they didn’t have to spend another season tanking when they made their midseason move for Jaren Jackson Jr., with the No. 2 pick essentially being a cherry on top for the Jazz rebuild. They’re guaranteed to get either AJ Dybantsa or Darryn Peterson, depending on which one the Wizards take. That’s a great problem to have, as the Jazz can easily accommodate either player alongside their core of Jackson Jr., Keyontae George, and Lauri Markkanen.
Utah spent the last four seasons tanking after it chose to end the Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert partnership in 2022, but now has a clear road map to the future. Dybantsa seems to be the favorite to go No. 1, which works well for the Jazz since they can accommodate a guard like Peterson into their backcourt with George. If the Jazz end up getting Dybantsa at No. 2, they’ll likely move on from Walker Kessler to open a spot in the frontcourt for Dybantsa alongside Markkanen and Jackson Jr.
The future is bright in Utah, especially with coach Will Hardy at the helm. He’s kept some bad Jazz rosters competitive for the first few months of a season for multiple years until the team has inevitably forced his roster to tank. Their tanking days are behind them, and this No. 2 pick could signal the beginning of another prosperous time for basketball in Utah.
