The Indiana Pacers lost their protected first-round pick to the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday night when the NBA Draft Lottery pushed the selection to No. 5. Indiana entered the lottery with the best possible odds for a top-four pick, but the result sent the choice out of its hands.
The Pacers finished 19-63, the second-worst record in the NBA, and the lottery outcome matched the one slot that would cost them the pick. Indiana would have kept the selection only if it landed at No. 1 through No. 4 or from No. 10 through No. 30, but a finish in the 5-9 range transferred it to Los Angeles. The Pacers now will keep their 2031 first-round pick because this year's selection is gone, and they do not have a second-round pick in the draft.
The numbers in the lottery left a clear trail. Washington got No. 1, Utah received No. 2, Memphis landed No. 3 and Chicago moved up to No. 4. Indiana's No. 32 pick, meanwhile, belongs to Memphis.
The loss traces back to a February deal that sent the pick to the Clippers in the trade that brought center Ivica Zubac to Indiana after Myles Turner left for the Bucks in free agency last July. Zubac played five games with the Pacers, averaging 11.6 points and 7.2 rebounds in 23.6 minutes per game before the deal evolved into a broader split between Indiana and Los Angeles. This season, across 48 total games with the Pacers and Clippers, he averaged 14.1 points and 10.6 rebounds. In the 2024-25 season, he was named second-team All-Defense while averaging 16.8 points and 12.6 rebounds and making 62.8% of his field goal attempts.
Pacers general manager Chad Buchanan said the move was driven by the need for a reliable center and the belief that the group deserved a chance to keep contending. He said the core of the decision came down to Zubac being a great player, and that the team had been a believer in him for a long time. He also said Indiana was missing a starting center that could keep it in the mix, and that the organization owed it to the players, the fans and the community to put the team in position to try to repeat the kind of runs it has made in recent seasons.
The timing matters because Indiana is trying to build around a roster that is not starting over. Tyrese Haliburton is returning from a torn Achilles tendon, and Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith and Pascal Siakam are under contract. Kobe Brown is the only unrestricted free agent, and Micah Potter is on a club option. The Pacers are also already well over the salary cap and near the luxury tax threshold, which makes every asset count even more.
The draft is set for June 23 and 24 in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Indiana will not be on the clock when its own lottery pick is called. The Pacers made the wager in February to get an everyday center, and on Sunday the lottery showed exactly how narrow the margin was.
