Wizards hold top pick as 2026 NBA draft begins in Brooklyn

The 2026 NBA Draft opened Tuesday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn with Washington holding the No. 1 pick and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo trade hanging over the board. Round 1 was set for 8 p.m. Eastern on ABC and ESPN, with Round 2 scheduled for Wednesday at 8 p.m. on ESPN at the same arena.

Washington won the lottery with 14.0 percent odds after finishing the 2025-26 season at 17-65. The Wizards were making the first selection in the NBA Draft for the third time in the common draft era, which dates to 1966, and for the first time since taking John Wall in 2010. Washington had previously used the No. 1 pick on Kwame Brown in 2001 and Wall in 2010, giving the franchise a rare chance to reset its roster around the draft’s top choice.

The night’s biggest swing came from the blockbuster that sent Antetokounmpo from the Bucks to the Miami Heat. Milwaukee received Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kasparas Jakucionis, Bobby Portis and three first-round picks, including the No. 13 pick in this draft. That package turned one of the league’s defining players into a draft-night force, giving Milwaukee more ammunition in the middle of the first round and forcing a fresh round of mock-draft revisions.

Gary Parrish was among the evaluators who adjusted after the trade, as the board shifted around both the Heat’s new contender window and Milwaukee’s influx of assets. The move also sharpened the difference between franchises trying to climb immediately and those building for later, with Washington positioned to add a franchise cornerstone while Milwaukee now holds extra capital to work through the first round.

At the top of the class, AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer and Caleb Wilson continued to headline the conversation around an unusually deep group of prospects. Behind Washington, the lottery order left the Jazz, Grizzlies, Bulls and Clippers in the top five, shaping a first round that began with a rebuilding Wizards roster and a league-altering trade that reached all the way to No. 13.