NBA Draft lottery tiebreakers reveal huge relief for the Utah Jazz
The Utah Jazz will officially hold onto their first-round pick instead of sending it to the Thunder after securing the No. 4 lottery seed.
The NBA revealed its tiebreakers for the upcoming draft lottery on Monday, and there was one big winner. The Utah Jazz are surely jumping for joy as they were revealed to have won the tiebreaker over the Sacramento Kings to become the No. 4 seed in the draft lottery.
That gives them an 11. 5% chance of winning the lottery and receiving the first overall pick, but more importantly, it means they will hold onto their first-round pick. With the tiebreaker slot, Utah is guaranteed a top-eight pick in the draft.
That means the protected first-round pick it traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder as part of the Derrick Favors deal back in 2021 will stay in the Jazz's hands. This means Utah’s lottery pick CANNOT fall lower than No. 8 in the May 10th lottery … so the Jazz are assured of retaining their top-eight-protected pick in the first round rather than sending it to Oklahoma City.
https://t. co/n2waYE6Rou — Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) April 20, 2026 The deal was made to offload Favors' salary to OKC, and as part of the deal, Utah sent the Thunder a protected first-round pick. It was protected as a top-10 pick in 2024 and 2025 and didn't convey in either of those two seasons.