Indiana Pacers Face Harsh Criticism After Rough NBA Draft Lottery Results
This past season, the Indiana Pacers struggled to win games, as their top star, Tyrese Haliburton, was sidelined recovering from the brutal injury he suffered in last year’s NBA Playoffs.
They finished 19-63, which was the second-worst in the league, behind only the lowly Washington Wizards, another team with several stars who couldn’t play at full health due to their injuries.
However, Sunday’s NBA Draft lottery reveal brought a chance at redemption for both of these teams, as they held high odds of receiving the top pick, and if not that one, then potentially a top-four pick from what many consider a very deep draft class of future stars.
Among them was BYU standout AJ Dybantsa, expected to be the No. 1 overall pick, Kansas’s Darryn Peterson, Duke’s Cam Boozer, and North Carolina’s Caleb Wilson.
Even the No. 5 pick could result in a talented young star for a roster, but Sunday’s fate of the ping pong balls went horribly wrong for the Pacers, as two other teams leaped up the order into the top four.
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The bad news for Indiana: they were the fifth team in the order, which meant their pick went to the Los Angeles Clippers as part of the trade that brought the Pacers big man Ivica Zubac.
And with that, fans let the Eastern Conference squad hear about it, calling them out on a social media post for “tanking” to increase their chances of landing a high draft pick.
“Yeah losing a pick in this draft is a fireable offense. Pritchard should be fired for this,” one commenter wrote on the Pacers’ X post.
“HAHAHAHAHAH WHAT HAPPENED BUMS go for tanking again,” someone else commented.
“Yall regret that dumb [expletive] trade for an injury, prone player???” a commenter asked.
Another commenter wrote, “You officially traded the 5th pick and Benedict Mathurin for Ivica Zubac. Let that sink in for the next month, Pacers fans.”
“Only you guys would trade a draft pick in a generational draft for a non all star center lmao . Clippers fleeced you guys so bad,” some reminded Pacers fans.
A few commenters also mentioned Indiana hadn’t shared any updates on their X account since the NBA Draft Lottery results, inferring they weren’t happy with how things went against them.
It’s certainly a rough outcome for Indiana, after Haliburton’s brutal injury ended their postseason run in the NBA Finals last year against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Adding insult to injury, OKC received the No. 12 pick in Sunday’s results.
Not only do the Pacers not have a pick in the top five of the order, but they also don’t have one in the first two rounds.
That said, the good news is they should have their All-Star Tyrese Haliburton back for a full, healthy season. Along with that, they could always make a splash in free agency or via trades to get Haliburton additional help for next season’s run.
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This story was originally published May 10, 2026 at 7:16 PM.