How the NBA draft order was impacted by league's tiebreaking process

The league officially decided several crucial tiebreakers between teams on Monday, April 20 before the NBA draft lottery is held on May 10 in Chicago. While the process is often referred to as a coin flip between teams that finished with the exact same record to determine the draft order, it is actually random number drawings conducted by the league. The tiebreakers between picks 15 through 60 are the official draft order.

There were six total tiebreakers in the 2026 NBA Draft. However, tiebreakers between teams picking in the lottery will not become set in stone until the draft lottery is concluded next month. Here were the most interesting results.

Biggest winner from the draft order tiebreakers The Utah Jazz walked away as the team that benefited the most from this process. They won the tiebreaker over the Sacramento Kings and will now have the fourth-best odds at the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.

With the fourth-best odds, the lowest the Jazz can pick in this class is now No. 8 overall. However, if they lost the tiebreaker and had the fifth-best odds, they would have had a 0.