The Washington Wizards have accomplished their primary goal of this season: they'll keep their 2026 first-round draft pick. The Wizards will finish with no worse than the third-worst record in the league. That means that Washington can't drop any lower than the seventh pick in the first round. 

The Wizards pick was top eight protected. If it had fallen nine or later, Washington would have conveyed the pick to the New York Knicks. Now, the Wizards will send second-round picks in 2026 and 2027 to the Knicks instead.

This was the final year that Washington had protections on this pick. The Wizards have all of their own first-round picks moving forward, with "most favorable" swap language in 2028 and 2030. Even with conveying two picks to New York, Washington still has up to 12 second-round picks over the next seven drafts.

The three teams with the worst record share a 52.1 percent chance of a top-4 pick and a 14 percent chance of the No. 1 pick.