What it's like: Inside the NBA Draft Lottery Drawing Room
The Pacers enter Sunday’s NBA Draft Lottery with a 52.1% chance to keep their pick — and hopes of landing the franchise’s first No. 1 selection.
It’s going to be an emotional day for Indiana Pacers fans no matter what.
They could land the No. 1 pick for the first time in franchise history. The odds: 14.0%.
They could secure a top-four pick and keep it. The odds: 52.1%.
Or their rash of bad injury luck could continue here and they could be jumped by one or two teams, dropping them out of the top four and sending the pick to the Los Angeles Clippers. The odds: 47.9%.
This is a moment the Pacers and their fan base have been waiting months for. In a season where very little went right, both sides leaned all the way into the draft lottery for the first time. The Pacers finished 19-63 (.232), the worst record in franchise history.
After a season that lacked much to celebrate, the Pacers are hoping to come up clutch on Sunday afternoon — much like they did during their 2025 run to the NBA Finals.
The annual event is once again being held in Chicago, this time at Navy Pier instead of McCormick Place Convention Center. It all leads into the NBA Draft Combine, which will be held throughout the week at Wintrust Arena.
The NBA is as transparent as possible when it comes to the draft lottery. League officials go out of their way to explain the detailed process, doing it in front of dozens of people before later posting a recording for all to see.
I know because I was invited by the NBA into the drawing room back in 2022, when the Pacers were in the lottery for the first time in a while. This will now be their third appearance in five years.
