Pacers' High-Stakes NBA Draft Lottery Gamble Ends in Heartbreak as Clippers Secure Pick

The Indiana Pacers' front office had every reason to lose sleep the night before the 2026 NBA Draft Lottery. President of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard and general manager Chad Buchanan were about to find out whether their high-risk, high-reward gamble would pay off—or come back to haunt them.

In February, the Pacers executed a daring trade to acquire center Ivica Zubac from the Los Angeles Clippers. As part of the deal, Indiana sent their 2026 first-round draft pick to Los Angeles. The pick was protected 1-4 and 10-30, meaning the Clippers could only receive it if it landed between picks 5 and 9. On May 10, 2026, a machine full of ping pong balls would determine which team would benefit from the lottery’s outcome.

Statistically, the Pacers had a 52.1% chance of retaining the pick, while the Clippers had a 47.9% chance. Pritchard described the odds as akin to a coin flip—though he admitted it felt closer to "Russian Roulette," with nearly 2.9 bullets in the chamber.

If the Pacers had kept the pick, the trade would have looked like a masterstroke. They would have acquired a center who nearly made the All-NBA team in the 2024-25 season, while sending out two future first-rounders with worse lottery odds and two players who no longer fit their long-term plans. The addition of Zubac would have been nearly perfect.

But if the Clippers had landed the pick, the trade would have looked far worse. The Pacers would have added a top-five prospect to a trade package that already included Zubac, who had been plagued by injuries. Worse still, it would have meant Indiana finished with the second-worst record in the NBA without the lottery luck to show for it.

"The truth is, I didn’t sleep much last night. And [Pacers general manager] Chad [Buchanan] and I kind of got away and walked. And we were trying to plan out everything, for the good, for the bad," Pritchard revealed. As the lottery results were revealed, he admitted his heart was racing like Game 7 of the NBA Finals. "I would have been a terrible poker player on Sunday—my emotional state was obvious even to onlookers 30 feet away."

As the trio of Pacers involved in the lottery broadcast sat to witness their fate, only one managed to conceal their emotions when the Clippers' logo flashed on the screen in a room filled with hundreds of people—and millions more watching at home.