Kings' Draft Lottery Odds Become Official After Tiebreaker

In an offseason that will be defined by ping pong balls and an all-important draft day selection, the Sacramento Kings received unfortunate news leading up to the NBA draft lottery, as they lost the tiebreaker with the Utah Jazz and dropped to the fifth spot in the standings.

The Kings have lost a tie breaker today with the Jazz, sliding Sacramento from the 4th position heading into the NBA Draft Lottery to 5th, while Utah is awarded 4th.
— Sean Cunningham (@SeanCunningham) April 20, 2026

The Kings ended the season tied with the Jazz for the fourth-worst record in the league at 22-60, leaving their final spot in the draft lottery rankings up in the air until the tiebreaker was completed. While the odds of landing a top-four pick are the same for both the fourth and fifth-ranked teams in the lottery, the odds of falling further in the draft are greater for the fifth-place team.

Draft Lottery Odds per Tankathon | Tankathon

Kings Finalized Draft Odds

1st Pick: 11.5%

2nd Pick: 11.4%

3rd Pick: 11.2%

4th Pick: 11.0%

5th Pick: 2.0%

6th Pick: 18.2%

7th Pick: 25.5%

8th Pick: 8.5%

9th Pick: 0.6%

The odds are minuscule at just 0.6%, but it would be the Kings' luck to fall to the ninth spot in the draft, especially after living at the very bottom of the standings for the majority of last season. Sacramento's highest odds are to drop two spots to the seventh position at 25.5%.

Coincidentally enough, Sacramento's second-lowest odds are to stay in that fifth spot, as they have just a 2.0% chance to select fifth. That means that the odds are high that the Kings are going to move up or down, one way or another.

Late Season Movement

It looked like the Kings were destined for one of the top positions in the lottery, but they won eight of their last 18 games to climb up the standings, much to the chagrin of fans around Sacramento. But the goal of the season for the Kings was to build a culture and identity, and even at the end of the year, they stuck with that plan instead of outright tanking.

The Jazz, meanwhile, seemingly did whatever they needed to do to drop in the standings, even getting fined $500,000 in February of this season for conduct detrimental to the league. While the Kings won eight of their last 18 games, the Jazz won just two of their final 17 contests to close the gap in the standings to Sacramento. And, ultimately, it worked in their favor to this point.

It's an unfortunate result for the Kings, even with the percentages not changing much. They need a lot of luck as they start their rebuild, and while they could still get that luck with the lottery, it's hard for this to be the first news of the offseason for Sacramento.

The Kings await their draft lottery fate on May 10th, where they'll find out where they will be selecting. Getting a higher pick will always help, but regardless of where they end up, Perry needs to nail the draft pick with the Kings desperately needing a star to build around.

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