https://www.nba.com/news/ties-broken-nba-draft-order-2026

Lottery tiebreakers:

Utah No. 4

Sacramento No. 5

New Orleans No. 7

Dallas No. 8

Both Washington and Utah had top-eight-protected picks in the 2026 draft owed to New York and Oklahoma City, respectively, meaning both teams had to secure one of the bottom four records in the league to assure that they didn’t lose their first-round pick.

And both succeeded.

35 comments

  5. Im confused, are the picks protections not based on the actual draft pick they take? I didn’t know it was based on what your lottery odds are

  6. I know it was such a minuscule chance to begin with, but getting a top 8 prospect guaranteed is some nice peace of mind while we wait for the draft. The tank ending with Cody Williams and Ace Bailey being all Utah has to show for it would’ve been pretty brutal

  12. Dawg if I see another post about OKC guaranteed a top ten first round pick in the next draft man…..

  18. An interesting way to reduce tank vs tank matches I thought of would be equal positions are ranked in reverse tiebreaker. Combine that with a minimum shelf of losses (personally I think 28 as you shouldn’t be losing more than two thirds) and you would get reverse tank off matches at least where teams like the jazz and wizards try to win the match for once

  22. 2 teams im looking forward to watching next year: the wizards and the Utah jazz

  23. Dallas? Chicago? Milwaukee? Golden State? Clippers? Miami? Charlotte?

    # You know what you must do.

  26. Compared to the Rockets and Spurs who copied Presti’s move of sell high and gather picks, the Thunder haven’t really been that lucky in the lottery. hopefully that luck will start turning around in the 26-30 drafts that we still hold multiple #1s in from other teams.

  27. When did they start protecting top 8 and top 55? Can teams just agree to anything or are there established options?

  28. This whole thing sucks. I absolutely get why the Jazz HAD to tank, but it sucks that the season had to be another throw away season for them and their fanbase.

    Trades, contracts, and all that front office stuff is something I don’t quite understand as it can get a bit complicated.

    Is there anyway the league can prevent these scenarios where teams are pretty much forced to tank to avoid giving an already strong team another potentially amazing player? (Besides teams making bad trades 😅)

  32. It took 5 years, but we’re finally free from the fear of losing our pick.

    Lindsey drafted both Don and Gobert but man some of his other moves were real head scratchers 

  34. thank God Silver still rigs the drafts. OKC would be a generational titan

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