Wizards clinch NBA’s worst record, top draft-lottery floor with loss to Heat

WASHINGTON — The Washington Wizards have won the race to the bottom of the NBA’s 2025-26 standings.

With their 140-117 loss to the Miami Heat on Friday, the Wizards clinched sole possession of the league’s worst record when the NBA’s regular season ends Sunday night.

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’s 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.

With their defeat Friday, the Wizards have lost 25 of their last 26 games.

Each of the teams with the league’s 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.

But there is a benefit to finishing with the league’s worst record outright. The Wizards can receive no worse than the fifth pick in the draft. The chance of Washington receiving the fifth pick is 47.9 percent.

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.

Tanking has been an issue for the NBA for decades, but the 2025-26 season has seen an epidemic of tanking in which more team than usual have sought to depress their own records. NBA commissioner Adam Silver has pledged to enact reforms to reduce the problem.