Washington wins NBA draft lottery,
chance to pick first on June 23
[May 11, 2026]
By TIM REYNOLDS
CHICAGO (AP) — For Michael Winger, 1 was the loneliest number. And
for the Washington Wizards, it was the best ping-pong ball.
Let's explain: Winger, the president of Monumental Basketball, was
the Wizards' representative inside the sequestered room where the
NBA draft lottery was taking place Sunday. The first ball was 4, the
second ball was 2.
“I knew it was us,” Winger said.
He was right. The third ball — 1 — made it official. The fourth ball
was a 13, which meant nothing. The 4-2-1 combination ensured that
the Wizards had won the lottery and earned the right to pick No. 1
in next month's draft, a huge step forward for a team that finished
with the league's worst record this season. And for the next 45
minutes, before the rest of the world found out during a television
broadcast, Winger was essentially stone-faced.
“I could have celebrated by myself, looking around for somebody to
high-five,” Winger said. “There wouldn't have been anybody there.”
The celebrations came later. Winger, Wizards great John Wall, vice
president of player personnel Travis Schlenk, coach Brian Keefe and
assistant coach David Vanterpool posed on stage after the lottery
ended, all smiles. There haven't been a lot of moments worth smiling
about in Wizards-land over the last three years. That may be
changing.
“It’s our fans that have endured the most," Winger said. "And to me,
this No. 1 pick is for them. It's a reward for hanging in there with
us. It’s a reward to continue to support us despite sometimes really
bad basketball. They knew and they supported a multiyear teardown, a
multiyear reinvention of the franchise.”
It will be Washington's first time with the No. 1 pick since they
chose Wall in that spot in 2010. Wall was the Wizards’ on-stage
representative for the lottery.
“They could be a team that I feel should be in playoff contention
next year,” Wall said.
Washington had a 14% chance of winning the No. 1 pick, tied with
Brooklyn and Indiana for the best odds. The Wizards had basically a
50-50 chance of getting either a top-four pick or the No. 5 spot.
But three consecutive years of losing — the three worst seasons in
the franchise’s 65-year history — paid off for a team that went
17-65 this season and even allowed Miami’s Bam Adebayo to score 83
points for the league’s second-highest single-game total ever.
The Wizards swung deals to land All-Stars Trae Young and Anthony
Davis earlier this year, and now they can add whichever college
player they want.
“This is another step in our journey," Keefe said. "Obviously, it’s
a great day and we’re looking forward to going through the process
and finding who we’re going to take with that pick, but I’m just
thrilled for everybody that works with the organization and most
importantly the community.”
Winger brought a photo of his family with him into the lottery room,
perhaps the bit of luck he needed. And there is a certain symmetry
to how the 4-2-1 combination was what delivered for the Wizards;
those numbers add up to 7.
“The day I was born,” said Keefe, born April 7, 1976.
Utah will pick No. 2, Memphis will pick No. 3 and Chicago will pick
No. 4.
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Washington Wizards' John Wall, left, and NBA Deputy Commissioner
Mark Tatum, pose for photos after Tatum announced that the Wizards
had won the first pick in the NBA basketball draft lottery in
Chicago, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
The Los Angeles Clippers got the fifth pick — via a
trade with the Pacers, who were shut out of the draft entirely —
followed by No. 6 Brooklyn, No. 7 Sacramento, No. 8 Atlanta, No. 9
Dallas, No. 10 Milwaukee, No. 11 Golden State, No. 12 Oklahoma City,
No. 13 Miami and No. 14 Charlotte.
The draft begins June 23 in New York. The draft combine in Chicago
starts on Monday.
No. 1 pick possibilities
There are four candidates that generally are considered
front-runners to be the No. 1 pick, all coming out of college after
one year.
— BYU’s AJ Dybantsa, who led the nation in scoring at 25.5 points
per game.
— Duke’s Cameron Boozer, the AP player of the year who averaged 22.5
points and 10.1 rebounds.
— Kansas’ Darryn Peterson, who averaged 20.2 points in 24 games.
— North Carolina’s Caleb Wilson, who averaged 19.8 points and 9.4
rebounds on 58% shooting.
“Obviously we’re going to find out on June 23 where I’m going to
land," Dybantsa said. "I’m betting on myself to be a No. 1 pick. I
think I’m very adaptable, I can play anywhere.”
It's now possible that Boozer could be selected by the Bulls or the
Jazz — two teams that his father, Carlos Boozer, played for in his
NBA days.
“It could be surreal, for sure," Cameron Boozer said.
Last of this format (probably)
This was the eighth, and likely final, year of this version of an
NBA draft lottery, with the worst teams having a 14% chance of
winning.
Framework fell into place last month on changes meant to further
discourage tanking, and the league’s Board of Governors is expected
to ratify that plan in the next few weeks — with general managers
meeting in Chicago on Tuesday to discuss them presumably for one
last time.
The three worst teams, starting next season, would have a 5.4%
chance of winning — with the next seven teams all having an 8.1%
chance of winning. The lottery would grow from 14 to 16 teams if the
plan, as expected, is approved.
___
AP Sports Writer Andrew Seligman and freelance reporter Scott Held
contributed to this report.
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