On Sunday, the NBA Draft lottery took place in Chicago, and one of the biggest losers was the Indiana Pacers franchise, as the team ended up missing out on a first-round pick altogether. This occurred due to a stipulation in last year's Ivica Zubac trade, which sent the Pacers' first-round pick to the Los Angeles Clippers if it fell outside the top four.
As fate would have it, the pick ended up landing at number five and making its way to Los Angeles, meaning the Clippers have nothing to show for their abysmal 2025-26 season, outside of the presence of Zubac.
One person who was not thrilled with the way things shook out was franchise point guard Tyrese Haliburton, who missed all of this past season due to a torn Achilles, and took to X, formerly Twitter, with a hilarious video of rapper Lil Uzi Vert to share his reaction to the lottery results.
pic.twitter.com/VIv7Kxz68g
— Tyrese Haliburton (@Hali) May 10, 2026
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Of course, the Pacers still have most of the core intact that made a run to the NBA Finals last year, and will seemingly have Haliburton back and healthy for next season. The successful recovery of Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum from the same injury should only provide further hope that Haliburton will be able to return to his All-Star form.
However, the Pacers had a rare opportunity to add a potential blue-chip prospect in a gap year, which saw the team shamelessly tank games in order to try to get into the top four.
Many will retroactively pan the Zubac trade, and some of it may be deserved, but ultimately, the Pacers' misfortune can be chalked up to bad luck,
On Sunday, the NBA Draft lottery took place in Chicago, and one of the biggest losers was the Indiana Pacers franchise, as the team ended up missing out on a first-round pick altogether. This occurred due to a stipulation in last year's Ivica Zubac trade, which sent the Pacers' first-round pick to the Los Angeles Clippers if it fell outside the top four.