{"id":635403,"date":"2026-05-10T21:11:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T21:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/635403\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T21:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T21:11:09","slug":"clippers-land-no-5-pick-in-nba-draft-after-pacers-lottery-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/635403\/","title":{"rendered":"Clippers land No. 5 pick in NBA Draft after Pacers lottery fall"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES — The Clippers<\/a> received a major boost to their offseason plans Sunday when the franchise officially secured the No. 5 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft following the results of the NBA Draft Lottery in Chicago.<\/p>\n

The pick comes via the Indiana Pacers<\/a> as part of February\u2019s blockbuster trade that sent center Ivica Zubac<\/a> and forward Kobe Brown<\/a> to Indiana in exchange for guard Bennedict Mathurin<\/a>, center Isaiah Jackson<\/a>, a 2029 unprotected first-round pick and a conditional 2026 first-round selection.<\/p>\n

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The Pacers entered the lottery tied for the best odds at the No. 1 pick at 14%, but failed to jump into the top four, allowing the selection to convey to Los Angeles at No. 5 overall. Had Indiana landed inside the top four, the Clippers instead would have received the Pacers\u2019 unprotected 2031 first-round pick.<\/p>\n

The Washington Wizards<\/a> won the lottery and secured the No. 1 overall pick for the first time since selecting John Wall<\/a> in 2010. The Utah Jazz<\/a> will pick second, followed by the Memphis Grizzlies<\/a> at No. 3 and the Chicago Bulls<\/a> at No. 4.<\/p>\n

For the Clippers, the outcome represents one of the most important developments of the franchise\u2019s offseason after a 42-40 campaign that ended with questions surrounding the team\u2019s long-term direction.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles now owns three picks in next month\u2019s draft \u2014 Nos. 5, 36 and 52 overall \u2014 giving the organization added flexibility whether it chooses to draft a cornerstone prospect or use the selection in a trade package.<\/p>\n

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The franchise entered the day with a 47.9% chance of receiving Indiana\u2019s pick, including a 27.84% chance at No. 5 overall and a 20.06% chance at No. 6. Instead, the Clippers walked away with their highest draft position in years and a potential building block alongside Kawhi Leonard<\/a> and Darius Garland<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The No. 5 slot could place several highly regarded prospects within reach, including Arkansas guard Darius Acuff Jr., Illinois guard Keaton Wagler<\/a> and Houston<\/a> guard Kingston Flemings, all of whom are projected lottery selections in many early mock drafts.<\/p>\n

The 2026 NBA Draft will be held June 23-24 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn<\/a>, with the Clippers now positioned near the top of a draft widely viewed as one of the deepest classes in recent years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES — The Clippers received a major boost to their offseason plans Sunday when the franchise officially…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":635404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[56224,7567,157,7329,7630,27494,7095,3441,56197,25174,64269,11653,238613,211752,7741,355,13329,138187,99,4219,11948],"class_list":["post-635403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-bennedict-mathurin","tag-brooklyn","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-bulls","tag-clippers","tag-darius-garland","tag-houston","tag-indiana-pacers","tag-isaiah-jackson","tag-ivica-zubac","tag-john-wall","tag-kawhi-leonard","tag-keaton-wagler","tag-kobe-brown","tag-memphis-grizzlies","tag-nba","tag-nba-draft","tag-nba-draft-lottery","tag-sports","tag-utah-jazz","tag-washington-wizards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}