2026 NBA Draft Tiebreaker Results

Tiebreakers among teams with identical regular-season records were broken on Monday through random drawings to determine the order for this year’s draft prior to the lottery.

The NBA has posted a video of the tiebreaking procedure (Twitter link). The results are as follows, according to a press release from the league (Twitter link):

• Utah Jazz (No. 4) over Sacramento Kings (No. 5)
  • The Jazz’s pick will land in the top eight, meaning their obligation to the Thunder will be extinguished.
• New Orleans Pelicans (No. 7) over Dallas Mavericks (No. 8)
  • The Pelicans will get one more lottery ball combination (out of 1,000) than the Mavericks.
  • The Pelicans’ pick will be sent to the Hawks (if it’s more favorable than Milwaukee’s) or Bucks (if it’s not).
• Phoenix Suns (No. 16) over Philadelphia 76ers (No. 17) over Orlando Magic (No. 18)
  • The Suns’ pick will be sent to the Grizzlies.
  • The Sixers’ pick will be sent to the Thunder.
  • The Magic’s pick will be sent to the Hornets.
• Toronto Raptors (No. 19) over Atlanta Hawks (No. 20)
  • The Hawks’ pick will be sent to the Spurs.
• Houston Rockets (No. 22) over Cleveland Cavaliers (No. 23)
  • The Rockets’ pick will be sent to the Sixers.
  • The Cavaliers’ pick will be sent to the Hawks.
• New York Knicks (No. 24) over Los Angeles Lakers (No. 25)

While the tiebreaker winner will pick ahead of the loser(s) in the first round, that order will be flipped in the second round.

For instance, the Magic’s second-round pick will be at No. 46, followed by the Sixers’ pick (traded to Phoenix) at No. 47, and the Suns’ second-rounder (traded to the Mavericks) at No. 48 — that’s the opposite of their order in the first round.

For lottery teams that finished with identical records, the second-round order is still to be determined depending on the lottery results.

For example, if the Jazz’s first-round pick stays at No. 4 and the Kings’ first-rounder stays at No. 5, Sacramento’s second-round pick would be at No. 34 and Utah’s (traded to San Antonio) would be at No. 35. But if the Kings win the No. 1 overall pick on lottery night, moving ahead of Utah in the first round, then the Jazz’s second-round pick (to San Antonio) would be No. 34, while Sacramento would move down to No. 35.

We’ll publish the full lottery odds and pre-lottery draft order for 2026 later today.