Kevin Pritchard on why Pacers didn't get more protection on pick in Zubac trade

CHICAGO -- Kevin Pritchard was hoping the Pacers could get their "cake and eat it too" by being able to land center Ivica Zubac 's in February's trade with the Clippers and keep their 2026 first-round pick. As it turned out, however, there was no way they could have done both. None of the Pacers' lottery combinations came through in Sunday's NBA Draft Lottery and they fell to the No.

5 spot, which means their 2026 first-round pick goes to the Clippers. Picking at No. 5 would have meant the Pacers would have their highest draft pick since they took Rik Smits No.

2 in the 1988 draft, so that's tough for Pritchard to part with, but he said there was no way the Clippers would have made the deal if the Pacers wanted to protect their selection beyond the fourth pick. "Everybody says, 'Why didn't you protect it a lot deeper? '" Pritchard said Sunday after the lottery.

"Unfortunately, we weren't able to. That was the vig for us to get Zu. You look at a lot of these big trades that are out there.