What are the New NBA Draft Lottery Rules?

Charlie Zschau Published: 9 hours ago

Beginning in 2027, the NBA is implementing a new Draft Lottery format with the goal of reducing tanking at the end of the season.

the 2025/26 NBA season saw a huge number of teams 'tanking' down the stretch of the season in order to increase their chances at a top pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.

The league took notice, and has officially voted in a new "3-2-1" system which aims to flatten the odds, and give the worst three teams in the league a worse chance at the number one pick than the the other lottery teams.

The new lottery rules will expand the lottery from 14 to 16 teams, and penalize the bottom three teams using a "relegation" zone.

How the New NBA Lottery Works

Relegation Zone: The three teams with the worst regular season records will be "draft relegated". These three teams will only receive two lottery balls each, giving them a 5.4% chance at the No. 1 pick.

Flattened Odds: All non-playoff and play-in teams will will receive three lottery balls each, and have an 8.1% chance at the No. 1 Pick. These teams will have the 4th-10th worst records in the NBA and miss the NBA Play-In Tournament.

Play-In Involvement: The four 9th and 10th seeded teams in each conference will receive two lottery balls each, giving them the same chance (5.4%) at the No. 1 Pick as the three worst teams in the association. The Losers of the 7-8 play-in games in each conference will receive 1 lottery ball and a 2.7% chance at the No. 1 pick in the draft.

Draft Floors: The three worst teams that fell into the relegation zone will be guaranteed to pick no lower than 12th, whereas the other lottery teams can fall up to the 16th pick in the draft.

Second Round Flip: The order of the first 16 picks in the draft will be reversed in the second round of the draft. This would mean that the team who wins the No. 1 Pick in the first round of the draft will select 16th (46th overall) in the second round. The team that has the 16th pick in the first round will have the first selection of the second round.

Anti-Tanking Rules in New NBA Lottery Format

No Back-to-Back Top Picks: Teams will be unable to win the No. 1 overall pick in two consecutive drafts.

Top-5 Pick Limits: Teams cannot land a top-5 pick in three consecutive drafts.

Pick Protections: Teams are no longer allowed to attach a top12 through top-15 protections to newly traded first-round picks.

League Oversight: The NBA now has an expanded disciplinary authority which allows them to reduce lottery odds or modify draft positions if blatant tanking is proven.