The Indiana Pacers' trade for Ivica Zubac prevented them from getting a first-round pick this year.
The Indiana Pacers lost their first-round pick in the 2026 NBA Draft on Mother's Day during the draft lottery thanks to the Ivica Zubac trade with the Los Angeles Clippers last season.
The Pacers needed to land in the top four to keep their pick after trading it with protections to the Clippers for Zubac. The trade sent two of Indiana's first-round picks to the Clippers: one in 2029 and either this year's first if it fell outside of the top four or a 2031 unprotected first-rounder if it did not.
Because the Washington Wizards moved up in the lottery, Indiana landed fifth, so the pick went to the Clippers instead.
NBA writer Jay King of The Athletic opined that the Pacers' evaluation of talent was their biggest problem in the Zubac trade. Essentially, Indiana should have gotten a supertstar instead of a player who has never made an All-Star team.
"Even if the Pacers return to their winning ways, it will be painful for them if the fifth pick turns into a big-time player in Los Angeles," King wrote. That was always part of the risk involved in the Zubac trade, but Pritchard didn’t think he could pass up the opportunity to fix his team’s problem at center."
The Pacers could have drafted AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer or Caleb Wilson. Instead, they have to pray that Zubac plays like an All-Star next season alongside Pascal Siakam and Tyrese Haliburton.
Zubac played in just five games with Indiana, averaging 11.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per contest while shooting 47.2% from the field and 80.% from the free-throw line. Zubac has played for the Los Angeles Lakers, Clippers and Pacers. He enters next season with career averages of 10.5 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game.
If Zubac doesn't help the Pacers return to contender status and the Clippers get a future star, Indiana executive Kevin Pritchard might get fired.
“At the end of the day, and this is what’s really important, I felt like (for) a championship team, we needed to fill that starting center,” Pritchard said. “That was priority one because they’ve earned the right to go try to get a championship.”
The Pacers had the league's second-worst record this season at 19-63. Haliburton missed the season recovering from his Achilles tear. He will return to the lineup next season, so Indiana will be a playoff team again, but it hurts that the franchise won't get one of the top college players.
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