{"id":27039,"date":"2026-05-11T01:35:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T01:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/27039\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T01:35:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T01:35:17","slug":"pacers-exec-issues-apology-after-nba-draft-lottery-risk-backfires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/27039\/","title":{"rendered":"Pacers exec issues apology after NBA draft lottery ‘risk’ backfires"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a miserable season in Indiana, Pacers fans had hoped to get some reprieve in the 2026 NBA Draft, as their team finished with the second-worst record and would surely be picking high.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The basketball gods had other ideas on Sunday when the league hosted the NBA draft lottery<\/a> and the Pacers saw their name called for the No. 5 pick. The problem was that the team traded that pick to the Clippers for Ivica Zubac and only made the pick top-four protected.<\/p>\n

The reaction was swift after the Pacers (19-63) were perceived to have tanked their season in order to get a high draft pick, only to see that go by the wayside.\u00a0They started the day with a \u00a052.1 percent chance at a top-four pick.<\/p>\n

\"PresidentPresident of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard of the Indiana Pacers NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Team president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard even took to social media to apologize on Sunday afternoon after the draft lottery.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really sorry to all our fans,\u201d Pritchard wrote on X<\/a>. \u201cI own taking this risk. Surprised it came up 5th after this year.\u00a0 I thought we were due some luck. But please remember \u2013 this team deserved a starting center to compete with the best teams next year. We have always been resilient.\u201d<\/p>\n

While some praised Prtichard for owning the circumstance the Pacers now find themselves in after winning just 19 games last season, others were not as merciful.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou lose Myles Turner and add Zubac. You lose [Benedict] Mathurin and the number 5 pick with absolutely nothing in return. This is why fans are upset, for a center who not even a top 5 center in the NBA. Who trades their future away for Ivan Zubac???\u201d one user wrote<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPacers really traded a top pick in this generational draft for \u201c\u2018ivica zubac,\u2019\u201d another person chimed in.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\"NBAAn overall view of the signage during the 2026 NBA Draft Lottery on May 10, 2026 NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I were a Pacers fan and my team traded away a top 5 pick for Ivica Zubac in the middle of a tanking season I would be beyond devastated,\u201d a third person said on X.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

There should be some solace in the fact that the Pacers aren\u2019t likely to repeat the poor nature of their 2025-26 campaign next season and they will have star Tyrese Haliburton back from a torn right Achilles after leading the team to the NBA Finals last season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a miserable season in Indiana, Pacers fans had hoped to get some reprieve in the 2026 NBA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[8,7012,7024,2733,4079,16483,9,1199,7],"class_list":{"0":"post-27039","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-stories","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-indiana-pacers","10":"tag-los-angeles-clippers","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-nba-draft","13":"tag-nba-draft-lottery","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@news\/116553378904453061","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}