How specifically does the Lottery work?
The 42nd NBA Draft Lottery will determine the order of selection for the first 14 picks of the 2026 NBA Draft presented by State Farm. Drawings will be conducted to determine the first four picks in the NBA Draft. The remainder of the “lottery teams” will select in positions five through 14 in reverse order of their 2025-26 regular-season records.
The actual lottery drawings will take place in a separate room just before the national broadcast of the results. Select media, NBA officials and representatives from the participating teams will be in attendance for the drawings.
The drawing process occurs in the following manner:
The drawing uses 14 ping-pong balls, numbered 1 through 14. There are 1,001 possible combinations when four balls are drawn out of 14, without regard to their order of selection. Before the lottery, 1,000 of those 1,001 combinations will be assigned to the 14 participating lottery teams.
For the drawing, all 14 balls are placed in the lottery machine. They are mixed for 20 seconds, and then the first ball is drawn. The remaining balls are mixed in the lottery machine for another 10 seconds, and then the second ball is drawn. There is another 10-second mix, and then the third ball is drawn. There is a final 10-second mix, and then the fourth ball is drawn. The team that has been assigned the combination of the four balls drawn from the machine will receive the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.
The ping-pong balls are then placed back in the machine and the same process is repeated for the second through fourth picks. If the same team comes up more than once (or if the one unassigned combination is drawn), then the result is discarded and another four-ball combination is drawn.
The 20-second and 10-second intervals at which the balls are mixed in the machine are monitored by a timekeeper who faces away from the machine and signals to the machine operator that the applicable period of time has elapsed.
The announcement of the lottery results will be made by NBA Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer Mark Tatum, who will open the envelopes in reverse order (i.e., the 14th pick first and the first pick last). A second representative from each participating team will be seated on stage for the announcement. Tatum, the team representatives on stage and anyone who was not present in the drawing room will not be informed of the lottery results before the envelopes are opened.
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2026 NBA draft order
First round
1. Washington Wizards (14% chance to pick No. 1)
2. Indiana Pacers (14%)
3. Brooklyn Nets (14%)
4. Utah Jazz (11.5%)
5. Sacramento Kings (11.5%)
6. Memphis Grizzlies (8.0%)
7. Atlanta Hawks (via NO; 6.8%)
8. Dallas Mavericks (6.7%)
9. Chicago Bulls (4.5%)
10. Milwaukee Bucks (3%)
11. Golden State Warriors (2%)
12. Oklahoma City Thunder (via LAC; 1.5%)
13. Miami Heat (1%)
14. Charlotte Hornets (0.5%)
The top four picks will be determined by the NBA draft lottery. The remainder of picks 5-14 will be in inverse order of the teams' finish in the regular season. The Hawks have the better of the picks belonging to the Bucks and Pelicans, with Milwaukee getting the lesser of the picks.
15. Chicago Bulls (via POR)
16. Memphis Grizzlies (via PHX)
17. Oklahoma City Thunder (via PHI)
18. Charlotte Hornets (via ORL)
19. Toronto Raptors
20. San Antonio Spurs (via ATL)
21. Detroit Pistons (via MIN)
22. Philadelphia 76ers (via HOU)
23. Atlanta Hawks (via CLE)
24. New York Knicks
25. Los Angeles Lakers
26. Denver Nuggets
27. Boston Celtics
28. Minnesota Timberwolves (via DET)
29. Cleveland Cavaliers (via SA)
30. Dallas Mavericks (via OKC)
