Pacers President Apologizes to Fans for 'Risk' of Clippers Trade After NBA Draft Lottery Results

The Indiana Pacers suffered a major setback on Sunday when their first-round pick in the 2026 NBA draft fell out of the top four and reverted to the Los Angeles Clippers as part of this season's trade for veteran center Ivica Zubac.

After the debacle, Pacers president Kevin Pritchard owned up to the situation with a post on social media, admitting that including the pick in the trade was a "risk."

The Pacers traded swingman Bennedict Mathurin, forward Isaiah Jackson, two first-round picks and one second-round pick to the Clippers at February's deadline to acquire forward Kobe Brown and Zubac, who played five games for them before being ruled out for the remainder of the season due to a fractured rib. Indiana finished with a 19-63 record, its worst in franchise history.

This year's pick that the Pacers sent to the Clippers was protected from picks Nos. 1 to 4 and 10 to 30. Indiana entered Sunday's lottery with a 52.1 percent chance to land a top‑four pick. Unfortunately, the team's nightmare scenario became a reality when the pick landed at No. 5, going to Los Angeles.

To make things even more heartbreaking for the Pacers, many are considering this year's draft class to be one of the deepest in recent memory. ESPN's Jeremy Woo predicted in his newest mock draft that the Clippers will select Illinois combo guard Keaton Wagler, who certainly would've been a boost to Indiana's lineup.

Instead, the Pacers will have to bank on the return of star point guard Tyrese Haliburton to turn things around next season after he missed the entire 2025-26 campaign while recovering from a torn Achilles tendon. Still, not adding a young prospect who could be a future star will sting for Indiana for quite some time.