Without a game being played, the NBA draft lottery is one of the most impactful days on the NBA calendar. A surefire way to build a championship-caliber team is with picks at the top of the NBA Draft. The Celtics’ success over the past decade has been driven by two top-3 picks. If you survey this year’s playoff landscape, you see the court littered with guys like Victor Wembanyama, Cade Cunningham, Anthony Edwards, and Karl Anthony Towns, Chet Holmgren, all of whom are necessary pillars on playoff juggernauts.
The lottery is especially significant this year. The upcoming draft is viewed as having three, maybe four, franchise-altering prospects: AJ Dybantsa, Cam Boozer, Darryn Peterson, and Caleb Wilson. Because I am selfish and can only think of NBA happenings as they pertain to the Boston Celtics, let’s examine how the 2026 NBA Lottery results impact our beloved team.
Most importantly, we avoided the two crisis situations that could have been catastrophic for not just the Boston Celtics but the entire NBA: both the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers being stripped of their chance to pick in the top four of this year’s draft. The Thunder are the defending champions and are currently undefeated in the playoffs. Handing them another blue-chip prospect would have been a doomsday scenario for the league. Thankfully, the basketball gods decided that the 7.1% chance of OKC jumping into the top four would not come to fruition.
Eastern Conference teams can breathe a sigh of relief as the Indiana Pacers not only dropped out of the top four, but lost their pick entirely to the Los Angeles Clippers as part of the Ivica Zubac trade. As we have seen with Jayson Tatum’s recovery from his Achilles injury, it’s reasonable to assume Haliburton can return to his pre-injury self, priming the Pacers to return to their championship-caliber form. Had the Pacers had the chance to add a six-foot-eight Jaylen Brown-type prospect to their team in AJ Dybantsa, it would have fortified them as a contender in the conference.
While the two most impactful scenarios that could stand in the way of Banner 19 did not come to fruition, it wasn’t a perfect day for the Celtics. With the Washington Wizards, fellow Eastern Conference resident, securing the number one overall pick, they now have an intriguing and potentially dangerous core — “potentially” being the keyword here. I am dubious of a team relying on Anthony Davis to make them a legit playoff contender. Sure, the Sacramento Kings getting the number one pick would have been optimal, but the Wizards are still a long way from being a real threat.
A fun bit of trivia comes out of the Wizards getting the first overall pick; Anthony Davis has now been involved in four instances of teams securing the number one overall pick. AD himself was the number one overall pick. The year Davis left the New Orleans Pelicans, they jumped up in the lottery to select Zion Williamson. After Davis was moved in the Luka Doncic trade, the Dallas Mavericks lucked into the first pick with only a 1.8% chance of jumping into the top spot. And now the Wizards land the number one overall pick.
Next, we have the Utah Jazz and Memphis Grizzlies, two Western Conference teams who jumped into the second and third draft slots instead of Eastern Conference teams. While I think it’s possible the Jazz could be frisky and push for 50 wins next season, they are not a threat to win the title. Memphis jumping into the third spot keeps another blue-chip prospect in the West. We love to see that.
If an Eastern Conference team is going to jump up in the Draft Lottery, it may as well be the Chicago Bulls. They have given us very few reasons to believe they are a serious organization since the departure of Michael Joran.
We move to the the fallout as it relates to a potential Celtics trade involving Giannis Antetokounmpo. Most significantly, the Milwaukee Bucks did not receive the monumental amount of luck needed to turn their bleak situation around. The Bucks required both the Pelicans and their own pick to jump into the top four in order to benefit from any shenanigans. The Miami Heat have been reported as a potential suitor for Giannis, with the Heat staying put at the 13th pick, their trade offer continues to be a pu pu platter of uninspiring young players and mediocre draft picks. For those who are intent on the Celtics trading for Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Lottery results have arguably improved the team’s chances of making that happen.
Lastly, the countdown for the Cooper Flagg trade demand to the Boston Celtics is on. The Dallas Mavericks were not rewarded with back to back years of miraculous lottery luck. They dropped from the 8th best odds to the 9th pick in the draft. Now, the Mavericks do not control their own draft pick until 2031. Dallas will get Kyrie Irving back next season, but he is going into his age 34 season. The path for the Mavericks to get back to playoff contention is murky at best. Will Flagg get fed up with being a perennial lottery team without a lottery pick? We can dream.
And if you have any Brooklyn Nets fans in your life, I would implore you to do a wellness check on them. Their future is bleak.
