Eastern Basement Battle: Nets, Wizards, Pacers Compete for Top Draft Lottery Odds

26 days into the 2025-26 campaign, the Brooklyn Nets have just two wins, dropping 11 games in a little less than a month. Yet, somehow, they're not smack dab at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. They're not even in second-to-last place. Brooklyn sits one game behind the Washington Wizards and Indiana Pacers, who own those undesirable titles.

To the Pacers' credit, two of the three most-impactful pieces of their 2025 NBA Finals run are no longer on the floor, those of course being Tyrese Haliburton and Myles Turner. One suffered an Achilles tear, while the other skipped town to join the Milwaukee Bucks. So, they're clearly not in the same "ethical tanking" mode the Nets and Wizards are.

Still, punting the season would make sense for the Pacers' hopes of retooling the roster that came one win away from being crowned kings of the basketball world. Whether they keep their projected top draft choice or not, that asset alone could help Indiana put the pieces back together, but it isn't needed. Indiana has its start in Haliburton. Washington and Brooklyn are still searching.

And that's why the Wizards will be the Nets' most significant threat to the highest probability of landing the top-overall selection. They, like Brooklyn, have yet to add a bona fide franchise face to their rebuild—even if second-year big Alex Sarr looks to be able to carry that responsibility potentially. However, that's not the only motivating factor the two squads share.

If Washington (somehow) ends up outside of the top eight, its draft choice is conveyed to the New York Knicks, which for obvious reasons would be a brutal blow to the franchise that's whiffed on Victor Wembanyama and Cooper Flagg by a combined two ping-pong balls.

But if anyone needs to land a top pick this summer, it's the Nets, who don't control their first-round pick in 2027. The Houston Rockets do, dating back to 2021's James Harden trade. Brooklyn also swaps its top pick for the least-favorable of the Rockets, Suns and Mavericks selections in 2029.

If the upcoming class ends up being anywhere near as transformative as it's projected to be, the Nets will need to be picking somewhere in the top four, ideally the top three. Adding one of AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson or Cameron Boozer could be precisely what the organization needs to speed up the rebuilding process. Otherwise, due to past mistakes, it could be another three years before we see the team take a real step forward.