{"id":597784,"date":"2026-04-11T21:02:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T21:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/597784\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T21:02:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T21:02:11","slug":"nets-clinch-top-odds-in-2026-nba-draft-lottery-in-loss-to-bucks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/597784\/","title":{"rendered":"Nets Clinch Top Odds in 2026 NBA Draft Lottery in Loss to Bucks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6d\">Brooklyn Nets fans can rejoice now that their fate in the 2026 NBA Draft Lottery has been sealed. In their second-to-last game of the season, the Nets have clinched the top odds at the No. 1 overall pick in the draft after a 125-108 road loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6g\">The Nets are now 20-61, and hold a two-game lead over the fourth-worst team in the NBA, the Utah Jazz. But with just one game left for teams around the league, Brooklyn will share the best odds at No. 1 with the Indiana Pacers (19-62) and Washington Wizards (17-64).<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6j\">The last time the Nets had the worst record in the league and the <a href=\"https:\/\/basketball.realgm.com\/nba\/draft\/lottery_results\/by_team\/38\/Brooklyn-Nets\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">best odds in the draft lottery<\/a> was 2017, when they finished 20-62. However, that pick belonged to the Boston Celtics, who ended up trading down with the Philadelphia 76ers. Markelle Fultz was the first prospect off the board.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6m\">The last time Brooklyn had the worst record and actually owned its pick was 2010, finishing 12-70. With a 25% chance at No. 1, the Nets fell to No. 3, drafting Derrick Favors.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6p\">It has been nearly 26 years since the franchise actually landed the top pick in the draft. In 2000, the Nets finished 31-52, the seventh-worst record in the NBA. They were hit with some major lottery luck, jumping all the way up to the first selection.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6s\">The top prospect off the board was Kenyon Martin, who ended up becoming a crucial piece in the then-New Jersey Nets&#8217; back-to-back NBA Finals appearances in 2002 and 2003.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6v\">Fast forward to today, and Brooklyn couldn&#8217;t have a better time to be this deep in a rebuild. The 2026 NBA Draft class is loaded with generational talent, including Darryn Peterson (Kansas), AJ Dybantsa (BYU) and Cameron Boozer (Duke). Even if they slipped back to No. 2 or No. 3, the Nets would still land a potential superstar.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6y\">The discourse surrounding the NBA&#8217;s leniency with tanking has reached an all-time high, and it looks like Adam Silver and the league are going to take action very soon. However, organizations can&#8217;t be blamed for taking advantage of the opportunity. If a team can land the best prospect in a rebuild, it&#8217;s going to drop games.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"71\">The Nets played their cards right and are now in a prime position to draft their next franchise player. Brooklyn hasn&#8217;t had a legitimate homegrown star since Brook Lopez, and fans are starved of winning basketball.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brooklyn Nets fans can rejoice now that their fate in the 2026 NBA Draft Lottery has been sealed.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":597785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-597784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}