The Sacramento Kings were one lottery ball off from landing the third overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft Lottery. Instead, they’ll be selecting seventh.
Deuce Mason of NBC Sports Bay Area and The Deuce & Mo Podcast joined Matt George and Kayla Anderson on The Matt & Kayla Show from Chicago, the day after he was one of the few reporters to witness the real NBA Draft Lottery drawing in person.
“It’s not going from 14, 13 down,” Mason shared. “The first draw, that’s who gets the number one pick. And we have a piece of paper that’s got the 1000 combinations that are distributed amongst the lottery teams.”
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“Of course, Washington was able to get the first pick. The second draw was Utah. The third draw actually happened to be Utah again, so obviously, they don’t get another pick, but in that moment, it’s kind of chaotic. Oh my goodness. Okay, so Sacramento’s got another chance at this. Then, you know, Memphis moves in. The Kings, they were one ball off from picking third.”
Mason continued to say that Sacramento was also one ball off from being fourth overall, but the number three they needed to see pulled didn’t show up.
The 2026 NBA Draft Lottery order ended up being Washington, Utah, Memphis, Chicago, LA Clippers (via Indiana), Brooklyn, and then Sacramento in seventh. Atlanta (via New Orleans), Dallas, Milwaukee, Golden State, Oklahoma City (via LA Clippers), Miami, and Charlotte rounded out the remaining picks.
With the Kings not jumping into the top four, while Memphis and Chicago did, they fell two spots from fifth to seventh. General manager Scott Perry obviously would’ve preferred to end up higher, as you could see on his face when the Kings were announced at seven, but Mason reminds everyone that the best players in drafts aren’t always within the first few picks.
“The guys who go one through five in the draft three, four years from now, when we look at one through five, I can almost guarantee you that those will not be the best five players in the draft,” he said. “Every draft. Like you go back to the Bagley, Deandre Ayton draft. Those guys were one two. They’re not the best. (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) went 12 in that draft.”
“So for Sacramento, can you be the team that finds the guy,” he continued, “Obviously you want to be the team that gets the guy that maybe surprises people. It’s bound to happen. And now the Kings’ got to get lucky. And now the work starts immediately.”
Check out the full conversation at the top of the page or by heading over to the Sactown Sports YouTube channel.
Listen to The Matt & Kayla Show from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. PST, Monday through Friday, on Sactown Sports 1140.
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Upcoming Sacramento Kings & NBA Offseason Schedule
Thursday, June 4th– NBA Finals begin
Thursday, June 25th – NBA Draft (Round 1)
Friday, June 26th – NBA Draft (Round 2)
Tuesday, June 30th – NBA Free Agency negotiation period begins (3 PM PT)
Thursday, July 9th – NBA Las Vegas Summer League begins
Monday, July 13th – Free Agency moratorium ends / signings can become official
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