The Brooklyn Nets will be picking sixth in the 2026 NBA Draft, following the results of the NBA Draft Lottery on Sunday afternoon. Mr. Whammy’s valiant efforts to butter up Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum before the drawing were not fruitful…
After posting the NBA’s third-worst record this season, this was a poor outcome for Brooklyn. (I opted for “nauseating” above.) Technically, this was a bottom-third outcome for the Nets, who
had a 7% chance of falling to #7 and a 26% chance of falling to #6.
The Nets also have two second-round picks this season, which they posted on social media just after the results…
Nearly two years ago, Sean Marks made a pair of franchise-altering trades to kick off the summer. Brooklyn shipped Mikal Bridges across the East River for a whopping five first-round picks (and a swap!), then announced almost simultaneously that they had traded four Phoenix Suns picks to Houston, in exchange for their own ‘25 and ‘26 first-rounders.
One day later, the Houston Rockets selected Reed Sheppard at #3 overall. They still owned the 2024 Nets pick, after all, which had spiked in the lottery after Brooklyn had a good ‘ol fashioned miserable season, no tanking involved. It was time for GM Sean Marks to get in on that sort of luck, setting the team up to tank hard over the next two seasons. The move was lauded; the following spring, Marks was voted the 8th-best executive in the NBA by his peers.
Now, the Nets’ two year tank is over. In 2025, after starting the season 9-10, they received the #8 pick, just two spots ahead of the Suns pick they traded away. This June, they’ll be picking at #6, missing out on a consensus top-four of AJ Dybantsa, Cameron Boozer, Darryn Peterson, and Caleb Wilson, while the New York Knicks could be coming off an NBA Finals trip.
In the final year before major NBA Draft Lottery reform, you could argue the Nets did not tank hard enough; the league-worst Washington Wizards won the #1 overall pick. The Indiana Pacers had the second-worst record and fell, but only to #5 (thus relinquishing their pick to the Los Angeles Clippers).
But the Chicago Bulls and their ninth-worst record shot up to four. The Memphis Grizzlies traded places with the Nets, jumping from #6 to #3….
As we reported earlier, one NBA insider told NetsDaily that they believe Brooklyn could trade up now that disaster has struck. I personally don’t see it — everybody loves the top four prospects — but you never know.
“The only reason you bank firsts like that is to be able to strike opportunistically,” he said. “Now, [moving up] in this draft, they will have to find a dance partner. But say they land in the dreaded fifth spot. They have enough draft capital to get them to the third.”
Was this outcome inevitable? No. All the Nets needed was a bit of good fortune to swing their way, and they didn’t get it. Okay, maybe it was inevitable.
