The Utah Jazz hold the second pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. They got there by losing. A 22-60 season, a $500,000 fine for sitting healthy players, and a finish fourth-worst in the league delivered the highest selection the franchise has held since it drafted Darrell Griffith second overall in 1980. Three weeks before the draft, the league rewrote the lottery so that no team can take the route Utah just took.
Utah moved up on lottery night for the first time in team history. At the May 10 lottery in Chicago, the Jazz jumped from a projected sixth to second. The Washington Wizards won the top pick. The official draft order runs Washington, Utah, Memphis, and Chicago. The draft itself is on June 23 and 24 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
The player Utah would most like to keep is AJ Dybantsa, who starred at BYU last season. He is not likely to be there. Sportsbooks list him at -450 to go first to Washington. Kansas guard Darryn Peterson, the early-season favorite, has drifted to +320. ESPN and NBA.com's consensus board both project Dybantsa first and Peterson to Utah at two. The Jazz have the assets to trade up if they want him. They have signaled they won't. League sources told ClutchPoints the team will keep the pick and is comfortable with either player.
Here is the part the national mock drafts leave out. The method Utah used to reach this pick is no longer one the team can count on.
For three seasons, the Jazz lost on purpose, and the league mostly allowed it. Their 2026 first-round pick was protected only inside the top eight. Finish ninth or worse, and it belonged to Oklahoma City. Utah had a reason to lose, and in February, it stopped disguising it. The NBA fined the Jazz $500,000 for pulling Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. before the fourth quarter of close games. Commissioner Adam Silver called it conduct that "undermines the foundation of NBA competition." Owner Ryan Smith posted that the team had "won the game in Miami and got fined." He had a point. Utah won that night, 115-111, after benching its stars.
Then the league shut the door. In a 29-1 vote, the Board of Governors approved a flattened lottery for the next three seasons. The worst record no longer carries the best odds at the top pick. Starting next season, finishing last buys worse odds than it used to.
That matters more for Utah than for most teams, because of where the roster sits. Markkanen, Jackson Jr., Keyonte George, Ace Bailey, and restricted free agent Walker Kessler form a group meant to win soon. A team built that way is unlikely to finish last again. Under the old lottery, a middling Jazz club that missed the playoffs still drew respectable odds at a high pick. Under the new one, the same club draws less. The cheap reset is gone. Whoever Utah takes at two has to help now, because the next pick this high may be years away, and it will be harder to earn.
None of this lowers the expectation for next season. The Deseret News reported that the goal for 2026-27 is the playoffs. Reaching the play-in would take roughly 15 more wins than this team managed. President of basketball operations Austin Ainge said he is focused on the process and that the team has a lot to prove. Coach Will Hardy would not commit to a playoff projection, noting how little the new roster has played together. Jackson Jr., acquired at the deadline, played three games before the season ended. Utah finished the season with the league's worst defensive rating. A rookie guard does not fix that.
The Jazz make their pick on June 23. It is the highest they have held in 46 years, and the rules now make it hard to land one this high again.
