The Lakers will have the 25th pick in the 2026 NBA draft, the league announced on Monday after ties among teams with identical regular-season records were broken through random drawings to determine the order selection.
The Lakers and Knicks finished the 2025-26 season with 53-29 records, resulting in the drawing taking place to determine which team would get the higher pick.
The Knicks won, and will have the No. 24 pick in the draft, which will take place in June.
The 2026 NBA draft will once again be split up across two days, with the first round taking being on June 23 and the second round taking place on June 24.
The Lakers traded their 2026 second-round pick in November 2020 when they sent JaVale McGee, along with the second-rounder, to the Cavaliers for Jordan Bell and Alfonzo McKinnie, so they could have room to sign Marc Gasol.
There were five other tiebreakers that were determined on Monday as a result the drawings:
- The Jazz (22-60) won a tiebreaker with the Kings;
- The Pelicans (26-56) won a tiebreaker with the Mavericks;
- The Suns (45-37) won a tiebreaker with the Magic and the 76ers. Second and third place in the tiebreaker drawings went to the 76ers and the Magic, respectively;
- The Raptors (46-36) won a tiebreaker with the Hawks;
- The Rockets (52-30) won a tiebreaker with the Cavaliers.
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The order for picks Nos. 15-30 will be:
15. Trail Blazers (to the Bulls)
16. Suns (to the Grizzlies via the Magic)
17. 76ers (to the Thunder)
18. Magic (to the Hornets via the Suns)
19. Raptors
20. Hawks (to the Spurs)
21. Timberwolves (to the Pistons)
22. Rockets (to 76ers via the Thunder)
23. Cavaliers (to the Hawks)
24. Knicks
25. Lakers
26. Nuggets
27. Celtics
28. Pistons (to the Timberwolves)
29. Spurs (to the Cavaliers via the Hawks)
30. Thunder (to the Mavericks via the Wizards and 76ers).
Picks Nos. 1-14 will be determined after the draft lottery, which takes place on May 10.