{"id":1876719,"date":"2026-04-11T01:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T22:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1876719"},"modified":"2026-04-11T01:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T22:26:11","slug":"wizards-clinch-nbas-worst-record-top-draft-lottery-floor-with-loss-to-heat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1876719","title":{"rendered":"Wizards clinch NBA\u2019s worst record, top draft-lottery floor with loss to Heat"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The Washington Wizards have won the race to the bottom of the NBA\u2019s 2025-26 standings.<\/p>\n

With their 140-117 loss to the Miami Heat on Friday, the Wizards clinched sole possession of the league\u2019s worst record when the NBA\u2019s regular season ends Sunday night.<\/p>\n

Washington now sits at 17-64 with one game to play. The Indiana Pacers entered their game Friday against the Philadelphia 76ers with the league\u2019s second-worst record at 19-61. The Brooklyn Nets started their game Friday against the Milwaukee Bucks with the third-worst record at 20-60.<\/p>\n

With their defeat on Friday, the Wizards have lost 25 of their last 26 games.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Each of the teams with the league\u2019s three worst records (without ties) will have a 14.0 percent chance of winning the NBA Draft Lottery in May, a 13.4 percent chance of receiving the second pick, a 12.7 percent probability of obtaining the third pick and 12.0 percent odds of getting the fourth pick.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

{“endpoint”:”https:\/\/api-prd-nyt.theathletic.com\/graphql”}<\/p>\n

But there is a benefit to finishing with the league\u2019s worst record outright. The Wizards can receive no worse than the fifth pick in the draft. The probability that Washington receives the fifth pick is 47.9 percent.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

<\/span>
\n <\/span>\n <\/div>\n

The lottery determines the top four draft slots in the draft. The other lottery teams will slot from No. 5 to No. 14 in the draft order in the inverse order of their regular-season records.<\/p>\n

Tanking has been an issue\u00a0<\/a>in the NBA for decades<\/a>, but\u00a0the 2025-26 season has seen an epidemic of tanking,<\/a> with more teams than usual seeking<\/span>\u00a0to depress their own records. NBA commissioner Adam Silver has pledged to enact reforms<\/a> to reduce the problem.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 The Washington Wizards have won the race to the bottom of the NBA\u2019s 2025-26 standings. With their 140-117 loss to the Miami Heat on Friday, the Wizards clinched sole possession of the league\u2019s worst record when the NBA\u2019s regular season ends Sunday night. Washington now sits at 17-64 with one game to play. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1876719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1876719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1876719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1876719\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1876719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1876719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1876719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}