CHICAGO – In a relatively nondescript ballroom inside Navy Pier, one of Chicago’s top tourist attractions on Lake Michigan, representatives for 15 NBA teams and 16 media members were sequestered without electronic devices to watch 14 ping-pong balls shoot out combinations of numbers that could redirect the futures of a handful of organizations.
There was inherent tension in that room for the 2026 draft lottery on May 10, as teams like Brooklyn, Utah and Washington have been tanking for years to try and land a generational, franchise-leading player.
There was Indiana, which cratered to the bottom of the league after playing in the 2025 NBA Finals and were tied with Washington and Brooklyn for the best odds to win the No. 1 pick. But, the Pacers would lose its pick to the Los Angeles Clippers if the ping-pong balls shot out a placement within Nos. 5 and 9.
Defending champion Oklahoma City had a representative on hand because of the 2019 trade of Paul George to the Clippers. Because the Clippers did not advance to the playoffs, the Thunder wound up with a 7.11% chance of landing a top four pick.
Then, of course, there were the Milwaukee Bucks.
The team cratered to a 32-win season, its worst in a decade. It was just the 10th worst record in the league, however, and they held the best odds to keep that selection.
There was an exposed nerve in that room for the Bucks, though – a pick swap owed to New Orleans for its 2020 trade to acquire Jrue Holiday. In other words, if the Bucks were to win the No. 1 pick, they would not be able to draft there.
Their odds of drafting No. 2 (0.43%), No. 3 (0.96%) and No. 4 (1.63%) were reduced as well.
While improbable, a big move in the draft order could be disheartening in the moment for the Bucks.
Mathematically, the Bucks had the best chance to stick at No. 10 (66.68%) with some room for moving up (5.44% for No. 8, 4.65% for No. 9) and perhaps too much room to move back (19% for No. 11, 1.2% for No. 12 and a combined 0.03% chance for Nos. 13-14).
Bucks GM Jon Horst said he picked vice president of basketball operations Dave Dean to represent the team in the drawing room because Horst was in the drawing room in 2008 when the Bucks moved back in draft position and fell to No. 8. It was not an experience he wanted to relive.
New Orleans traded their right to the swap with the Bucks to Atlanta in the 2025 draft, so the two people I was most keen to watch in that ballroom were Dean and Hawks vice president of player personnel Daniel Starkman.
To do so, I staked out a chair on the end of a row closet to the two executives and wrote my name on my league-provided notebook to save my seat – much to the amusement of a longtime lottery observer from a national outlet.
The lottery is only held for the top four picks, though, so it happened very quickly.
The top pick went to Washington, which was tied with Indiana and Brooklyn for the best odds at that pick. Utah won the No. 2 pick. Memphis was the first surprise being drawn at No. 3. The Grizzlies had just a 9.4% chance of winning that spot.
Pick No. 4 offered perhaps the slightest bit of drama for Milwaukee, as the first number drawn was “7” – which was a number in all five of the Bucks’ possible combinations to jump up. But after 20 seconds of scrambling the rest of the ping-pong balls, the No. 6 was pulled and thus ended any chance of the Bucks moving up over Atlanta and losing their pick.
Chicago would win the No. 4 selection, which was another surprise, and their executive director of basketball operations Chigozie Umeadi fist pumped.
The most expressive reaction came from Brooklyn owner Joe Tsai, who slumped his chair and stared dejectedly at the board, when his Nets fell to No. 6 after having matched Indiana and Washington for the best odds at the No. 1 pick.
Then there was Clippers representative Rishabh Desai, their executive director of basketball operations, sitting off the side with the media, watching his team leap into the top five in the small pick range allowed in a deal with the Pacers. Needless to say, Desai was very happy.
Meanwhile, in the second row of teams on a riser watching the ping-pong balls being drawn, Dean was relaxed throughout.
Dressed in a blue suit with blue shirt, the longtime Bucks executive brought a handful of lucky charms with him provided by his family: A gold Lego man keychain, an Erling Halland soccer card and Monkey D. Luffy card from his son, a pendant from his wife with a spiritual message and an item from his daughter that read, “Believe in yourself, I’m always with you.”
Dean smiled after the Bucks stuck at No. 10.
“They worked – we didn’t go backwards,” he said.
The first round of the draft will be held on June 23. Horst spoke afterward that the Bucks will still keep all of their options open regarding the pick, be it by using it or trading it.
“Obviously both paths are still very alive for us and we’ll explore and learn a lot in the coming weeks as to what the benefit of the organization will be,” he said. “No matter what, it’s a great opportunity for the organization. But I can’t stress enough, we’ve already spent a lot of time [preparing]. This is a great draft. We believe that. We don’t think it’s just on paper.”
Mallory Edens returns to lottery stage for Bucks
On stage, Atlanta was represented by GM Onsi Saleh and the Bucks were represented by Mallory Edens, the daughter of team co-owner and governor Wes Edens.
Wes Edens, as well as Horst and assistant GM Milt Newton, were also in the building to represent the franchise.
They, like every fan watching at home, watched the results play out in front of them after we already knew the outcome.
“It was cool for me,” Mallory Edens said of her return to the stage. She represented the Bucks in 2014 when the team won the No. 2 pick and eventually selected Jabari Parker.
“When I did it last time I was in high school and my dad had just closed his deal to buy the team a few weeks beforehand, so my family were really at the beginning of our NBA journey and just sort of entering this amazing community,” Mallory Edens continued. “And in the intervening decade-plus we’ve won a championship, we’ve been to multiple Eastern Conference finals, we’ve had so many great experiences. So, I’m always happy and feel so lucky to get to share those kinds of incredible experiences in the NBA with my dad. And when he asked he said you were our good luck charm, you have to go back. And I couldn’t say no to that. Because I’m also superstitious.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: I was in the NBA draft lottery room, here’s how the Bucks got their pick
Reporting by Jim Owczarski, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
