Indiana Pacers will pick 32nd in NBA Draft after San Antonio Spurs jump Houston Rockets in first round

The Pacers have four picks in the top-32 of the 2023 NBA Draft

CHICAGO — The Indiana Pacers will own the 32nd pick in the second round of the NBA Draft after the San Antonio Spurs leapfrogged the Houston Rockets in the draft order at the NBA Draft Lottery.

The Pacers owned the Rockets second-round pick in the upcoming NBA draft, but the selection was protected for picks 33-60, meaning Indiana only got it if it was 31 or 32. Otherwise, it would go to the Boston Celtics and the Pacers would instead end up with the Miami Heat's second round pick at 50.

Because the Rockets finished with the same record as the Spurs, the lottery would determine which team had the higher pick in both the first and second round. If San Antonio had the better first-round pick, they would be behind Houston in round two, and vice versa. Because the teams were tied for the second-worst record, the fate of pick 32 came down to the lottery drawing. The Pacers wanted to see the Spurs ahead of the Rockets in the first round.

In the end, the Spurs finished with the first overall and the Rockets had fourth. That meant pick 32 went to Indiana in a stroke of luck for the blue and gold.

"Now that we have it, we really like that pick," Pacers President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard said of the 32nd pick. "It just gives us bigger degrees of variability."

Indiana has had success at the top of the second round in recent seasons. Two years ago, they traded the 31st pick in a package that landed them Isaiah Jackson, and last year, they selected Andrew Nembhard at 31. That's why the blue and gold were hoping for lotto luck for the Spurs, they could get another quality asset early in the second round.

Now, all five Pacers picks are known. The lottery itself placed the Pacers at seventh overall, and they will also pick 26th, 29th, 32nd, and 55th. Indiana has several draft picks and tons of cap space to work with this summer.

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