Pacers

After draft lottery, Ivica Zubac must produce for Pacers. And hear from Kevin Pritchard.

The draft lottery was painful for the Pacers. It will be less so if Ivica Zubac plays great.

Ivica Zubac and Kobe Brown with the Pacers.

CHICAGO – Kevin Pritchard took a swing. He didn't want to, in his words, slow play the way to success. He believes the core of his team – a group that reached the NBA Final in 2025 – can win at a high level.

They needed a center after Myles Turner left. Pritchard went and got Ivica Zubac in a bold move that involved the Pacers protected 2026 first-round draft pick. It was a gamble, and Pritchard lost the gamble. Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum held up a Clippers logo for the fifth overall pick on Sunday.

T.J. McConnell stared off into the distance. Pritchard and general manager Chad Buchanan were motionless for a moment despite Pritchard being generally fidgety throughout the event. There was buzz in the room – some from that result, some from the broadcast going to a commercial break.

The Pacers officially won't have their 2026 first-round draft pick. Los Angeles will. Having Zubac and the pick would have been a "have your cake and eat it too" moment for the Pacers. No eating, in this case. Just cake.

There is a notion out there that the Pacers tanked for nothing. That's wrong. They tank for the best odds to eat their cake. And they were able to acquire the cake at all because their record was bad in February, making their 2026 first-round pick good enough to be the main asset in a trade to acquire Zubac. He is their cake and will be their starting center going forward.

"Let's give this group an opportunity to go compete for a championship, because they've proven they could do it," Pritchard said Sunday. "And we've added a really good center in (Zubac)."

Don't take my word for it. Pritchard said himself, later, that he views Zubac as his team's lottery pick (to an extent) when reflecting on the trade. "At the trade deadline, didn't know how structurally we were (going to be) able to get a top center. Then you might be just looking at free agency and using your cap. And we wouldn't have cap space. So it's a full mid level. And that guy usually isn't in the level of (Zubac)," he began before the kicker. "So (Zubac) is our lottery pick."

In Pritchard's eyes, he couldn't have landed Zubac without protecting the pick only 1-4. He praised the Clippers negotiating ability. In the end, he had to take a huge risk to get his guy. And that risk didn't pay off.

At least, not today. Pritchard does have his 2031 first rounder now, unprotected. Some major trades are still possible for the Pacers, who own all but one of their next seven first round picks. The Pacers front office does have more flexibility now – that's not a win, to be clear. They wanted the pick and it would have been a far better outcome. But it is a silver lining.

In the short term, Pritchard's bet on the current core of his team hinges on the player he called a de facto lottery pick. Many will forget about this day, and the pain felt by the franchise, if Zubac is awesome.

Kevin Pritchard speaking at the 2026 NBA Draft Lottery.

The team believes he can be. They wouldn't have traded for him if they didn't believe that. Actions speak louder than words here, but the words do match. "Our starting five is a legitimate starting five," Pritchard said. "We're going to compete at the highest level. We get (Haliburton) back. (Zubac) is a legit starting center that was a top-18 player by votes last year in the NBA. And what we've learned from (Zubac) so far is he's super smart, and he wants to fit in, and he's all about winning. And again, (we're) disappointed. I'm not trying to smooth over that. We wanted to pick. But we'll be okay."

For Pritchard to be right – for his team to be okay – Zubac will have to be great. He averaged 11.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game this season for the blue and gold. Those are tidy numbers. They also are below the stats he will need to put up for the trade to feel right going forward.

Compared to his Pacers production, Zubac posted better per-minute rebounding numbers every season of his career since 2017-18. His field goal percentage has never been worse than the five games he played with Indiana on his jersey. That's not to say he's a bad fit or falling off. It's to say that his only five games with the Pacers are not at all reflective of the player he has proven to be in the past.

Zubac himself was critical of his own rebounding after multiple games, particularly against New York. He was learning a new defensive scheme, and the Pacers will have to figure out how to maximize his rim protection skills. His screen setting was elite, though, and his passing was better than many expected.

He didn't get to play with Pascal Siakam last season. He has yet to play with Tyrese Haliburton. Those will be big hurdles. It's all a big ask of Zubac. The Pacers will push him to be good at a lot of things.

For the Pacers to feel like Zubac was worth a top-five pick, they'll need him to produce. Winning cures all emotions. Eating cake is done at parties and celebrations. Zubac is the Pacers cake. Time will tell if they get to eat it.

Hear from Kevin Pritchard at the draft lottery via his full comments below.