While the Washington Capitals may not have been blessed with any lottery luck earlier this week, the same cannot be said for the Washington Wizards.
The Wizards, who finished with the worst record in the NBA this past season, won the lottery and secured the first overall selection in the 2026 NBA Draft. Coming into the lottery, they had a 14 percent chance of landing the top selection and a 52.1 percent chance of at least picking within the top four.
Washington will have the first pick in an NBA draft for the third time since 2001. John Wall, the franchise’s legendary point guard and one of those former first-overall picks, was the team’s representative at McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago on Sunday.
Washington Wizards win 2026 NBA Draft Lottery
Since the league switched to its current lottery system before the 2018-19 season, the team with the worst record had never received the top pick until now. The 2026 draft is planned to be the last under the current system, as the NBA seeks to implement anti-tanking rules that will penalize the league’s three worst teams.
Not only did the Wizards get the top pick before those regulations are put into place, but they also did so with what is believed to be one of the best draft classes in recent memory. The final decision for general manager Will Dawkins and his staff will likely come down between BYU forward AJ Dybantsa and Kansas guard Darryn Peterson.
Either top-ranked prospect would have been considered a surefire number-one overall pick in any draft in which they weren’t vying against one another. The Wizards will add to a young core that already includes Alex Sarr, the second overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft; Kyshawn George; Bub Carrington; Bilal Coulibaly; Tre Johnson; and Will Riley.
Dawkins also brought in two star veterans last season, namely guard Trae Young and forward Anthony Davis. The reported goal is for both to play next season as the Wizards seek a return to the playoffs for the first time since 2021.
