After a miserable season in Indiana, Pacers fans had hoped to get some reprieve in the 2026 NBA Draft, as their team finished with the second-worst record and would surely be picking high.
The basketball gods had other ideas on Sunday when the league hosted the NBA draft lottery and the Pacers saw their name called for the No. 5 pick. The problem was that the team traded that pick to the Clippers for Ivica Zubac and only made the pick top-four protected.
The reaction was swift after the Pacers (19-63) were perceived to have tanked their season in order to get a high draft pick, only to see that go by the wayside. They started the day with a 52.1 percent chance at a top-four pick.
Team president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard even took to social media to apologize on Sunday afternoon after the draft lottery.
“I’m really sorry to all our fans,” Pritchard wrote on X. “I own taking this risk. Surprised it came up 5th after this year. I thought we were due some luck. But please remember – this team deserved a starting center to compete with the best teams next year. We have always been resilient.”
While some praised Prtichard for owning the circumstance the Pacers now find themselves in after winning just 19 games last season, others were not as merciful.
“You lose Myles Turner and add Zubac. You lose [Benedict] Mathurin and the number 5 pick with absolutely nothing in return. This is why fans are upset, for a center who not even a top 5 center in the NBA. Who trades their future away for Ivan Zubac???” one user wrote.
“Pacers really traded a top pick in this generational draft for “‘ivica zubac,’” another person chimed in.
“If I were a Pacers fan and my team traded away a top 5 pick for Ivica Zubac in the middle of a tanking season I would be beyond devastated,” a third person said on X.
There should be some solace in the fact that the Pacers aren’t likely to repeat the poor nature of their 2025-26 campaign next season and they will have star Tyrese Haliburton back from a torn right Achilles after leading the team to the NBA Finals last season.
