Matt Johnson
Who will get the first pick in the 2026 NBA Draft? It’s a question that has become an even bigger point of discussion this season due to the blatant amount of tanking around the NBA. While the lottery isn’t until May 17, we’re looking at the teams who are truly the most deserving of the No. 1 overall pick.
Let’s dive into our list of the five teams most deserving of winning the NBA Draft lottery and landing the rights to the top pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.
1. Memphis Grizzlies
The Memphis Grizzlies are the team most deserving of the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. Ja Morant’s injuries and his questionable commitment to the game truly thrust this team into a position where it needed to rebuild. So, the organization rightfully embraced that by trading away Desmond Bane and later Jaren Jackson Jr. We’ve seen what Memphis can do for the likes of Jaylen Wells (39th overall pick in 2024) and Cedric Coward (11th overall pick in 2025), they know how to maximize player development. Plus, the city of Memphis deserves a new franchise cornerstone it can rally behind. On top of all of that, the NBA certainly might like to see the team that wins the NBA Draft lottery not be the one that basically threw double-digit games this season.
2. Washington Wizards
Putting the Washington Wizards here instead of the Indiana Pacers, Brooklyn Nets or Utah Jazz will draw criticism. In our view, Indiana doesn’t need the top pick coming off a blatant tanking year when they have Tyrese Haliburton, Pascal Siakam and Ivica Zubac. We also don’t believe Utah’s egregious multi-year tanking scheme orchestrated by Danny Ainge should be rewarded. Instead, the Wizards are more deserving. AJ Dybantsa or Cameron Boozer could walk into a core that already features Trae Young, Bilal Coulibaly and Alex Sarr. That’s even excluding whatever happens with Anthony Davis. Washington also made moves ahead of the NBA trade deadline to position itself to be an Eastern Conference contender next season.
3. Sacramento Kings
The Sacramento Kings aren’t deliberately tanking, this is just an organization that is run and coached alarmingly badly. Sacramento is truly the worst NBA team from the entirety of the 2025-26 NBA season, but they just didn’t have a head coach who was willing to go to the extremes to improve the team’s NBA Draft lottery odds, as we’ve seen in March. Ordinarily, that would make Sacramento the team most deserving of the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. With that said, it would be a detriment to any top prospect’s potential for them to land in Sacramento given how owner Vivek Ranadive has run the team.
4. Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls haven’t exactly been a well-run organization in recent years, that’s putting it kindly. What you can at least say in this franchise’s defense is that it’s not blatantly tanking to the levels we’ve seen this year from the Brooklyn Nets and Indiana Pacers nor in the last few seasons like the Utah Jazz have. Chicago also isn’t resting its star player for the remainder of the year like the Milwaukee Bucks are. Of the teams who realistically will have top-10 lottery odds, Chicago is one of the few that has at least remained marginally competitive in the second half of the season. Plus, there is a bit of a desire to see a generational talent land in Chicago and potentially turn the storied franchise around.
Related: Chicago Bulls HC Addresses UNC Tar Heels Rumors
5. Atlanta Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks received universal praise last year for acquiring the unprotected rights to the New Orleans Pelicans first-round pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. Fast forward to now, there’s about a 25 percent chance that it winds up being a top-four pick. Meanwhile, the Hawks are poised to be a top-six seed in the Eastern Conference with player development proving instrumental in the success of Jalen Johnson and Onyeka Okongwu. Atlanta did win the NBA Draft lottery a few years ago, but Zaccharie Risacher was one of the worst prospects to be taken No. 1 overall in recent memory. It’s an exciting thought to imagine this ascending Hawks team winning the draft lottery again and adding AJ Dybantsa to play alongside Johnson and Dyson Daniels.
