The Pacers’ Draft Lottery Experience Was So Bad That the Team President Apologized to Fans

Kevin Pritchard knows is admitting his mistake.

On Sunday, after the Pacers lost their first-round pick during the NBA draft lottery, Pritchard took to social media to apologize to the team’s fans for the trade that made it possible.

The Pacers finished the season with the NBA’s second-worst record at 19–63, largely because star guard Tyrese Haliburton missed the entire season while recovering from a torn Achilles tendon. That record gave Indiana the second-best odds to wind up inside the top four picks during the lottery. The Pacers had a 14.0% chance at the top selection, a 13.4% chance at No. 2, and a 12.7% chance at No. 3. Crucially, they had a 52.1% chance of landing inside the top four.

Despite their struggles, Pritchard and general manager Chad Buchanan opted to buy at the trade deadline. They acquired Ivica Zubac and Kobe Brown from the Clippers in exchange for Bennedict Mathurin, Isaiah Jackson, their 2026 first-round pick, a 2028 second-rounder, and a 2029 first-rounder. This year’s first-round pick was top four protected, and also protected from 10 to 30. Essentially, L.A. would only get the pick if it landed between fifth and ninth. Well, it did.

On Sunday, the pick dropped to No. 5 and now goes to the Clippers, leaving Indiana without much to show for its lost season.

The Pacers made an extremely risky gamble that the team would have some lottery luck while landing its center of the future. He lost big.

Pacers president Kevin Pritchard apologized after the franchise’s huge draft lottery loss

Indiana Pacers center Ivica Zubac dribbles the ball as Portland Trail Blazers center/forward Robert Williams III defends. — The Pacers’ trade for Ivica Zubac ultimately cost it a top-five pick in the 2026 NBA draft. | Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

Soon after the lottery concluded, Pritchard took to social media and apologized to Pacers fans for blowing the team's chance at a top draft pick:

I'm really sorry to all our fans. I own taking this risk. Surprised it came up 5th after this year. I thought we were due some luck. But please remember - this team deserved a starting center to compete with the best teams next year. We have always been resilient.

Zubac is a really good player. That said, he’s 29 and struggled once he joined the Pacers. He averaged 11.6 points and 7.2 rebounds in five games before fracturing a rib that put him out for the rest of the season. During the full 2025–26 campaign, Zubac scored 14.1 points per game while adding 10.6 rebounds in 30.1 minutes. He's under contract for two more seasons at an affordable price. He’s due $20.3 million next year, and $21.8 for the 2027-28 campaign.

Brown is a rotation player and earned 24.7 minutes per game while averaging 9.4 points per game after arriving in Indiana, but he’ll be an unrestricted free agent this summer. So Zubac is all the Pacers will get for giving up the No. 5 pick, a second-rounder and an eventual unprotected first-rounder. Plus Mathurin, who averaged 17.6 points per game this season and is a restricted free agent this offseason.

The Zubac trade was a reckless gamble by the Pacers, who assumed the lottery balls wound bounce their way. Now they are left without a first-rounder in a deep draft.

Pritchard has only himself to blame.

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