{"id":194821,"date":"2026-05-10T19:39:36","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T23:39:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=194821"},"modified":"2026-05-10T19:40:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T23:40:06","slug":"memphis-grizzlies-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/05\/10\/memphis-grizzlies-draft\/","title":{"rendered":"How The Memphis Grizzlies Won The Draft Lottery Without Landing 1st Overall Pick"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NBA draft lottery results were a great turnout for the Memphis Grizzlies. The Grizzlies won the NBA Draft Lottery<\/a> in the ways that mattered most, landing in the top three of a draft class with three clear elite prospects<\/a>. As a team with playoff aspirations entering last season, the Grizzlies pivoted to a rebuild midway through the regular season and now have a franchise-shaping opportunity with the third overall pick of the 2026 NBA Draft<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Of course, securing the first or second overall picks would’ve been better, but the Grizzlies jumped up three spots from the sixth-best odds to land at three. For a team looking to jump-start a rebuild, the Grizzlies won the draft lottery because they became positioned to add a foundational piece without the pressure that sometimes comes with the top selection.<\/p>\n

How The Memphis Grizzlies Won The Draft Lottery Without Landing 1st Overall Pick<\/h2>\n

Third Overall Pick Gives Memphis Maximum Flexibility<\/h3>\n

At first glance, the Grizzlies’ selection at number three appears to be simple: select whoever remains between BYU forward AJ Dybantsa<\/a>, Kansas guard Darryn Peterson<\/a>, and Duke forward Cameron Boozer<\/a>. With the Washington Wizards and Utah Jazz selecting numbers one and two, Boozer is the early favorite to be there for the Grizzlies’ taking at number three.<\/p>\n

With that said, the number three pick gives Memphis several possible pathways. They can stay put and draft a cornerstone prospect, or they could look to package the selection in a larger move to accelerate the rebuild. Either way, the Grizzlies won the draft lottery because they can react to how the board unfolds.<\/p>\n

Obviously, with how their season turned out, they will likely stay put to make their selection with the third overall pick, considering the elite prospects up for selection. However, with their propensity to trade up in the draft, they could utilize their other selections<\/a> in this draft and future draft capital to secure a second top-10 selection.<\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

The Talent Available At The Third Overall Pick Could Be Franchise-Changing<\/h3>\n

Another reason the Grizzlies won the draft lottery is that modern NBA drafts regularly produce stars outside the top selection. History consistently shows elite players emerge throughout the top three, and Memphis now sits directly in that range.<\/p>\n

If the Grizzlies remained at number six or fell to seven or eight, there would’ve been more uncertainty around their selection to help the rebuild move quickly. The Grizzlies are not a traditional bottom-tier rebuilding team starting completely from scratch, as they have experience and talent throughout their roster<\/a>. Adding a high-level prospect can complete their rebuild before it starts.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s part of why the Grizzlies won the draft lottery. They gained access to elite draft positioning without the hopelessness that often accompanies it. Although the franchise has never held the first overall pick in any draft during its existence, picking at number three in this draft almost feels like they are picking number one in any other year.<\/p>\n

This Pick Accelerates Their Rebuild<\/h3>\n

Ultimately, the biggest reason the Grizzlies won the draft lottery is that this result changes the trajectory of the franchise moving forward. Facing the uncertainty of a clear long-term centerpiece for the next era, Memphis is positioned to add just that with the number three selection.<\/p>\n

The Grizzlies’ previous era was built through the draft, and this one appears to be trending in a similar direction. Spanning for 2018 to 2020, they selected former franchise cornerstones Jaren Jackson Jr.<\/a>, Ja Morant<\/a>, and Desmond Bane<\/a> in three consecutive drafts. Following the selections of Zach Edey<\/a> and Cedric Coward<\/a> in 2024 and 2025, respectively, Memphis’ next era<\/a> will begin next season after this summer’s selection.<\/p>\n

As a small market with a promising recent draft history, the Grizzlies won the draft lottery because they landed in their best position since selecting Morant at second overall in the 2019 NBA Draft. Now, with his time appearing to come to an end, the third overall pick is the perfect transition to move forward to becoming a playoff-contending team sooner than imagined.<\/p>\n

Featured Image: David Banks-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The NBA draft lottery results were a great turnout for the Memphis Grizzlies. The Grizzlies won the NBA Draft Lottery in the ways that mattered most, landing in the top three of a draft class with three clear elite prospects. As a team with playoff aspirations entering last season, the Grizzlies pivoted to a rebuild […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5763,"featured_media":194871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,32,62,556],"tags":[49942,49353,49715,50017,49782,3127,1822,1948,4741],"class_list":["post-194821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-grizzlies","category-nba","category-nba-draft","tag-2026-nba-draft","tag-aj-dybantsa","tag-cameron-boozer","tag-cedric-coward","tag-darryn-peterson","tag-desmond-bane","tag-ja-morant","tag-jaren-jackson-jr","tag-zach-edey"],"modified_by":"Benjamin Yu","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5763"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194821"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":194881,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194821\/revisions\/194881"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}