With their sights set on re-entering contention following Tyrese Haliburton’s year-long absence, the Indiana Pacers held an opportunity to acquire a top-four selection in this year’s NBA Draft, widely considered one of the deepest in league history.
Despite this, they will possess no first-round draft choice whatsoever.
The Pacers failed to secure a high position in Sunday’s NBA Draft lottery, leading their pick, which lacked protection beyond the top four, to be conveyed to the Los Angeles Clippers as part of the Ivica Zubac transaction.
At the trade deadline, the Pacers executed a deal to secure Zubac and Kobe Brown from the Clippers. In exchange, they dispatched Bennedict Mathurin, Isaiah Jackson, a first-round pick in 2029, a future second-round pick—and Sunday’s first-round selection that ultimately became the No. 5 overall pick in a strong draft class. That particular pick now belongs to the Clippers.
The outcome of the lottery and the final result of the trade prompted an expression of regret from Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard on social media Sunday afternoon.
“My deepest apologies to all our supporters,” Pritchard communicated. “I accept accountability for undertaking this gamble. I am astonished it landed as the 5th pick after this year.
“I believed we were due some good fortune. However, please bear in mind—this roster merited a starting center to contend against top-tier franchises in the upcoming year. Our team has consistently demonstrated resilience.”
Calamity for Indiana’s Team
The Pacers concluded the season with the league’s second-worst overall record, holding a 14% probability of landing the top pick and a 52% probability of placing within the top four. They shared the second-shortest odds to achieve this with the Wizards and Brooklyn Nets. The furthest down the Pacers could have dropped in the lottery was the sixth selection.
Had they secured a spot among the top four, they would have retained the selection. However, the pick was not safeguarded for positions five and six, meaning the Clippers now hold a valuable draft asset with the prospect of acquiring a transformative player from a strong draft class.
Motivation Behind Indiana’s Decision
The 76ers secured Zubac partially as a replacement for Myles Turner, who had signed with the rival Milwaukee Bucks during the prior offseason’s free agency period. Turner’s departure, combined with the Achilles injury Haliburton sustained in the seventh game of the NBA Finals last season, caused Indiana to shift from a championship contender to one of the league’s less successful teams.
The Indiana organization anticipated that the current season would merely be a temporary setback and that they could regain their competitive standing in the upcoming season once Haliburton returned from his year-long hiatus. Zubac figured into these strategies, as did a prospective lottery pick offering the opportunity to select a game-changing player within the top four spots.
Nevertheless, the Pacers took a chance with that lottery selection by transferring it to the Clippers, protecting it only if it landed within the top four among the top ten picks. In the end, their gamble did not pay off. Consequently, their future strategies have suffered a considerable setback.
