{"id":712519,"date":"2026-04-17T15:15:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T15:15:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/712519\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T15:15:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T15:15:21","slug":"the-utah-jazz-have-been-cursed-in-the-nba-draft-lottery-since-it-was-introduced-in-1985","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/712519\/","title":{"rendered":"The Utah Jazz Have Been Cursed In The NBA Draft Lottery Since It Was Introduced In 1985"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Utah Jazz<\/a> finished the 2025-26 season with a woeful 22-60 record, tied for the fourth-worst in the NBA with the Sacramento Kings<\/a>. That, in turn, also means the Jazz and the Kings are currently tied for the fourth-best odds in the 2026 draft lottery.<\/p>\n

A coin flip will decide who ends up fourth, but ultimately, both teams will have a solid chance, on paper, to win the lottery. Winning it would give the Jazz a chance to select the talented AJ Dybantsa<\/a> in the 2026 NBA Draft.<\/p>\n

Dybantsa (who has yet to declare for the draft) is widely expected to be a top-two pick, and he went to high school and college in Utah. It would be fitting if he ends up with the Jazz, but if history is any indicator, there is no chance of this happening.<\/p>\n

This will be the 12th time the Jazz are in the lottery, and they didn\u2019t move up even once on the 11 previous occasions. It\u2019s a shocking statistic, and here we take a look at their past results.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

2004 Lottery<\/p>\n

Projection: 14th pick<\/p>\n

Received: 14th pick<\/p>\n

The fact that the lottery was introduced in 1985 and the Jazz\u2019s first selection only came in 2004 is quite impressive. They stayed where they were at 14th and selected Kris Humphries.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

2005 Lottery<\/p>\n

Projection: 5th pick<\/p>\n

Received: 6th pick<\/p>\n

The Jazz got their first dose of bad luck in 2005 as they slipped from the fifth pick to the sixth. They would trade that pick before the 2006 NBA Draft, though, moving up to third to select Deron Williams<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That proved to be a great decision, but they had to give up the sixth pick, the 27th pick, and a conditional 2006 first-round pick to the Portland Trail Blazers<\/a>. The asking price would have been a bit lower if they hadn\u2019t dropped.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

2006 Lottery<\/p>\n

Projection: 14th pick<\/p>\n

Received: 14th pick<\/p>\n

The Jazz found themselves in the lottery again in 2006 and stayed where they were. They selected Ronnie Brewer 14th overall.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

2011 Lottery<\/p>\n

Projection: 6th and 12th picks<\/p>\n

Received: 3rd and 12th picks<\/p>\n

The Jazz finally saw a pick jump up in the lottery in 2011, but it wasn\u2019t their own. They had gotten the Brooklyn Nets<\/a>\u2018 2011 first-round pick by trading Williams to them. That Nets selection went from sixth to third, and the Jazz selected Enes Kanter<\/a> with that pick.<\/p>\n

As for the Jazz\u2019s own pick, it remained at 12th, and they selected Alec Burks.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

2013 Lottery<\/p>\n

Projection: 14th pick<\/p>\n

Received: 14th pick<\/p>\n

The Jazz stayed where they were in 2013, but traded their 14th and 21st picks on draft night to the Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a> for the ninth pick. They landed Trey Burke with this deal.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

2014 Lottery<\/p>\n

Projection: 4th pick<\/p>\n

Received: 5th pick<\/p>\n

The Jazz would get unlucky again in 2014 as they dropped to fifth and eventually selected Dante Exum<\/a>. Andrew Wiggins<\/a>, Joel Embiid<\/a>, and Aaron Gordon<\/a> went in the top four that year, so they certainly missed out in a big way.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

2015 Lottery<\/p>\n

Projection: 12th pick<\/p>\n

Received: 12th pick<\/p>\n

The Jazz didn\u2019t drop in 2015, but they didn\u2019t go up either. With that 12th pick, they\u2019d select Trey Lyles.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

2016 Lottery<\/p>\n

Projection: 12th pick<\/p>\n

Received: 12th pick<\/p>\n

It was the same as 2015 in 2016 for the Jazz. They\u2019d select Taurean Prince<\/a> 12th, but then immediately moved him in a three-team deal to acquire George Hill.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

2023 Lottery<\/p>\n

Projection: 9th pick<\/p>\n

Received: 9th pick<\/p>\n

The Jazz would stay away from the lottery for quite some time after 2016, but returned in 2023 after the Donovan Mitchell<\/a> era ended. They stayed at ninth and selected Taylor Hendricks.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

2024 Lottery<\/p>\n

Projection: 8th pick<\/p>\n

Received: 10th pick<\/p>\n

Just like in 2014, the Jazz dropped in 2024. This time, though, it was by two spots instead of one. With that 10th pick, the Jazz selected Cody Williams.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

2025 Lottery<\/p>\n

Projection: 1st pick (tied with flattened odds)<\/p>\n

Received: 5th pick<\/p>\n

Lastly, we get to 2025, and this was easily the worst of the drops for the Jazz. They had the worst record in the NBA in 2024-25, which gave them a 14.0% chance to get the No. 1 pick. Not only did the Jazz not get that top pick to draft Cooper Flagg<\/a>, but they also dropped out of the top four. That was brutal, to say the least.<\/p>\n

The Jazz would select Ace Bailey<\/a> fifth, and he did at least end his rookie season well. Bailey is no Flagg, but he has shown he could be a franchise cornerstone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Utah Jazz finished the 2025-26 season with a woeful 22-60 record, tied for the fourth-worst in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":712520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,6,12],"class_list":{"0":"post-712519","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba-draft","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-nba-draft"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116420707852062768","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=712519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/712520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}