The 2026 NBA Draft class is a loaded one. This was the perfect season to tank. Well, if you’re a tanking team in control of your own picks.

Even then, there’s only a 14 percent chance of landing the top pick, under the current lottery format. Soon, that format will be changing, as the league doesn’t exactly like the idea of teams being rewarded for putting out a bad product.

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Especially when it’s so blatant and intentional. We’ve seen teams sit their top players and rest them for significant chunks of the season, in hopes of intentionally losing and getting a shot at a prized collegiate talent.

Something had to change. The new format will expand the lottery to 16 teams, as opposed to 14 teams, under the current system.

This is designed to flatten the odds and precent consecutive top-pick successes in multiple years. It also will prohibit top-four protections on picks 12-15.

Teams with the 4ththrough 10thworst records will have equal odds for the top pick, at 8.1 percent each. The league is also aiming to create a relegation zone, meaning the bottom three teams will have decreased odds of winning the top pick, as they will be granted fewer lottery balls.

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If a team is caught attempting to deliberately lose games and sway their lottery outcome into more of a favorable one, they could be subject to further reduced lottery odds in the future.

The changes will take effect next year, starting in 2027 and are expected to span at least three years.

This year’s projected top pick is AJ Dybantsa, who led the nation in scoring with 25.5 points. The Washington Wizards currently hold the top draft selection and are surely going to be selecting him, if they keep the pick,

There’s been talk about the Wizards possibly trading the pick, and Dybantsa has stated that he’d love to stay in Utah and play for the Jazz, as he played collegiately in that same state at BYU.

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Dybantsa also stated that he hopes to pick up several things from Houston Rockets superstar forward Kevin Durant‘s game and add it to his own craft. He was also asked to put together his ultra lineup of players playing in the NBA today and inserted Durant. His exact statement is below.

“I’m about to get canceled for some of this but I’d put LeBron at the one, I’ll put Jokic at the five, I’ll play the three, I’d put KD at the four and I’ll have Curry at the two, but he’s strictly there to shoot.”

This lineup would boost immense size, as Dybantsa, Durant, Jokic and James are all at least 6-foot-9, while Curry is the shortest – standing at 6-foot-3. There’s also not a great amount of outside shooting here but the mid-range shooting would be stellar, between Durant and Dybantsa alone, not to mention James.

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The playmaking would also be tremendous, between James and Jokic. All told, this is a respectable lineup (although we don’t fully know how Dybantsa will adjust to the NBA ranks).

This article was originally published on www.si.com/nba/rockets/onsi as AJ Dybantsa Places Rockets Kevin Durant in Ultra-Five Starting Lineup.