This is why the NBA is reforming the draft lottery

Two of the more egregious tank teams win the top two picks in what could be the final year of the fruitfulness of tanking. So it goes.

Good morning. Watch out for very high elbows. Let's basketball.

The Wizards will pick No. 1 and the Jazz will pick No. 2 in the stacked 2026 NBA Draft, after the lottery was held on Monday. In related news, the Wizards have been under the sway of one of the most pitiful multi-year institutional tank jobs and traded for two former All-Stars last season who played a combined five games for Washington as the clinched the worst record in the league. The Jazz have been targets of league fines, derision and scrutiny for activities such as pulling their best players in the fourth quarter of games they lead and end their best players' seasons early. Utah traded for a former All-Star who ended up playing three games for the team before going out as the Jazz claimed a tie for the worst record in the West.

Both the Wizards and Jazz have been awful for multiple years, by design. And now they will pick Nos. 1 and 2 in a draft that could produce multiple All-NBA players. And this is why the NBA is reforming the draft lottery to discourage the most egregious tanking: because it works.

We know it works; it just doesn't work universally, and never has. Tanking helped the Thunder get Chet Holmgren and Alex Caruso (by way of Josh Giddey). Tanking helped the Spurs get Victor Wembanyama. The Grizzlies traded Jaren Jackson Jr. to Utah and tanked the season; they'll pick No. 3. The Bulls traded everyone who wasn't bolted down and tanked the season; they'll pick No. 4. The Pistons tanked for Cade Cunningham. The Timberwolves tanked for Anthony Edwards. So it goes.

The Pacers tanked with Tyrese Haliburton benched for the year, while their rival the Celtics remained competitive and finished No. 2 in the conference despite having Jayson Tatum benched most of the year. But Indiana, looking for a quick pivot next season, made a calculated risk and traded Ivica Zubac for a weirdly protected 2026 pick and an unprotected 2029 pick. The weird protections: in the event the Pacers landed top four after the lottery, they'd keep the pick. If the lottery gods smited them and they fell to No. 5 or worse, the pick would go to the Clippers.

The Pacers landed at No. 5 and the pick went to the Clippers. The president of basketball operations is now apologizing for the Zubac trade since it means that horrible season of losing was mostly for naught (though Zubac will help). Tanking doesn't work universally.

Let's pause one moment to consider the apology.