CHICAGO (AP) — The Indiana Pacers were hoping for a top-four selection in the NBA draft. They missed getting there by one spot.
That means they got nothing.
The ping-pong balls of the NBA draft lottery came out in such a way Sunday that Indiana would have had the No. 5 pick in next month's draft — but that pick will instead go to the Los Angeles Clippers as part of the trade that brought center Ivica Zubac to the Pacers earlier this year.
Pacers President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard did nothing to hide how disappointed he was about the latest batch of bad luck for a franchise that played in Game 7 of the NBA Finals last season, lost star Tyrese Haliburton to a torn Achilles tendon in that game — he missed this entire season — and has had nothing to celebrate since.
The team with the second-worst record in the NBA this season, after being the second-best team last season, just got dealt another loss.
“I’m really sorry to all our fans,” Pritchard wrote on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, after the lottery. “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.”
It was the second known apology Pritchard made after the lottery to the Pacers’ fanbase; the first was during an in-person interview session with Indianapolis media shortly after the results were revealed.
“I know the Twitterverse is probably going to be a little brutal. And I get it, man, I get it," Pritchard told reporters. "My heart was beating like it was Game 7. And to those people, I’m sorry. But I can promise you, at the end of the day, we're going to be an organization that figures it out. We’re very resourceful.”
The terms of the Zubac deal were this: The Pacers got him from the Clippers for Bennedict Mathurin and Isaiah Jackson, plus two future first-round picks — one in 2029 and one in 2031, unless Indiana's first-round pick happened to fall between No. 5 and No. 9 this year.
Turns out, the Pacers couldn't fall below No. 6. That means picks 1, 2, 3 or 4 would stay with Indiana, and pick 5 or 6 would go to the Clippers.
And to the Clippers it goes — in a loaded draft, no less.
“Zu is a great fit for us," Pritchard said of the center who averaged 14.1 points and 10.6 rebounds this season. "And at the end of the day, this is what is really important: I felt like (to be a) championship team, we needed to fill that starting center. That was priority one, because they’ve earned the right to go try to get a championship. And that was not doable with protecting this to eight or nine to 10 or wherever.”
For now, the Pacers don't have any picks in either the first or second round in the June 23-24 draft.
“I just want to tell the fans we’re going to be OK," Pritchard said. "We’re going to compete at the highest level. We get Ty back. ... And what we’ve learned from Zu so far is he’s super smart and he wants to fit in and he’s all about winning. But again, disappointed. I'm not trying to smooth over that. We wanted the pick. But we'll be OK."
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