The Indiana Pacers will have to wait another year to make a first-round selection, as their 2026 lottery pick slid to No. 5 overall—and will now head to the Los Angeles Clippers.

Sunday's NBA Draft Lottery at Chicago's Navy Pier delivered a tough break for Indiana. The Pacers entered with a 52.1% chance of keeping their pick inside the top four, but the basketball gods had other plans. When the dust settled, Washington claimed the No. 1 spot, Utah grabbed second, Memphis took third, and Chicago jumped to fourth—leaving Indiana at fifth, the exact slot where their protection expired.

The roots of this disappointment trace back to February, when the Pacers made a bold win-now move. They shipped a protected 2026 first-rounder (protected for picks 1-4 and 10-30), an unprotected 2029 first-round pick, a future second-rounder, and young players Bennedict Mathurin and Isaiah Jackson to the Clippers. In return, Indiana landed center Ivica Zubac and forward Kobe Brown—veteran pieces for a team looking to compete.

The protection meant Indiana would only keep the pick if it landed between picks 1-4 or 10-30. But after finishing with the league's second-worst record, only the top-four protection remained realistic. The Pacers' pick could only fall between No. 1 and No. 6 on lottery night.

"Disappointed, because this is a great draft," said Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard, just minutes after the final order was revealed.

Statistically, the fifth pick was the most likely single outcome at 27.8%, but that's cold comfort for a franchise watching a top-tier talent slip away. Most mock drafts project a clear top four—AJ Dybantsa, Caleb Wilson, Darryn Peterson, and Cam Boozer—followed by a crop of talented guards. Now, it will be the Clippers reaping that reward.

For Pacers fans, it's a reminder that in the NBA, every trade has a ledger—and sometimes, the bill comes due on lottery night.