John Wall's lucky socks help Wizards win 2026 NBA lottery top pick

Washington Wizards secured the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA draft despite finishing with the league's worst record at 17-65.

Superstitions before the draw John Wall sat in the Adorn Bar at the Four Seasons on a Sunday morning, picking at bacon while explaining his superstitions. Underneath his navy blue and red Howard University Air Jordan 14 exclusives, he wore ultra-cushioned Hanes crew socks from Walmart. "I've always had to play in a pair of Hanes crew socks from Walmart, under my NBA socks," Wall said. "And they got to be ultra cushioned. I need them." He also pointed to a necklace his late mother wore as his good luck charm, though it broke on January 29, the night the Wizards celebrated his career. His backup is a tattoo on his neck depicting his mother wearing the necklace. ## A franchise haunted by past failures The Washington Wizards have struggled for decades, failing to advance to the conference finals since 1979. The team lost 196 games over the past three seasons during a complete rebuild. A year ago, they had the best odds to land Cooper Flagg but slipped to the sixth pick. ESPN had exclusive access to the organization during the draft lottery weekend to capture their most pivotal moment in a generation. ## The moment of redemption arrives Wall represented the Wizards at the lottery as their former No. 1 pick in 2010. Four hours later, Washington became the first team to win the lottery after finishing with the league's worst record since the NBA revamped the lottery format in 2019. It marked the franchise's first lottery win since Wall was drafted in 2010. The win represents the next step in a transformation that included trades for All-Stars Trae Young and Anthony Davis earlier in the year. ## Quiet celebration in the drawing room Michael Winger, the president of Monumental Basketball, was the Wizards' lone representative inside the lottery's drawing room. When he realized the franchise had won the top pick, he did not emote but instead gave a thumbs up and opened his journal. Inside were photos of his wife and four children, and he wrote the winning sequence of ping-pong balls: 4, 2, 1, 13. "I have a terrible memory and I write down as much as I can because I know that tomorrow I will not remember what happened today," Winger said. ## Owner's near-miss with a fishhook Approximately 1,300 miles away in Palm Beach, Florida, owner Ted Leonsis celebrated Mother's Day with his wife. To burn off nervous energy, he ran up and down a nearby drawbridge instead of his usual beach route. A fisherman's hook wrapped around his forearm after snagging his black cord, leaving no scratch. Leonsis gave money to a man needing cash for his mother on Mother's Day, seeing it as paying forward the good luck he felt. ## Leonsis finds hope in luck's pattern Leonsis returned home and told his wife about the fishhook incident. When asked what he was thinking as the draft lottery neared, he replied, "Well, I've either used up all the luck I could ever have in the last half hour or luck runs in threes and this is what's going to happen." Leonsis, Lynn, and their son Zach watched the lottery unfold via FaceTime. As the Wizards passed the fourth pick without their envelope being revealed, Leonsis told his wife, "We're going to win this." ## A history of setbacks and struggles Washington has endured injuries to stars like Bernard King, Bradley Beal, and Wall, failed trades such as sending Chris Webber to Sacramento for Mitch Richmond, and self-inflicted issues like the Gilbert Arenas locker room gun scandal. Michael Jordan played two seasons with the Wizards without reaching the playoffs and later drafted Kwame Brown as the No. 1 pick in 2001. Leonsis has owned the team for 16 years, winning a Stanley Cup with the Capitals and a WNBA title with the Mystics, but the Wizards haven't made the playoffs since 2021. ## A meticulous four-phase rebuilding plan Winger and general manager Will Dawkins structured a four-phase plan to revitalize the Wizards: deconstruct, lay the foundation, build, then fortify. The trades for Young and Davis, combined with the No. 1 pick, have the team working on Phases 2 and 3 simultaneously. "Deconstruct, lay the foundation, then you build it," Dawkins said. "And then eventually fortify it." Once on-court success arrives, Phase 4 will begin. ## Owner trusts the long-term vision Leonsis has the patience to let Winger and Dawkins execute their plan despite the Wizards' struggles. He compared their process to the Capitals' rebuild with Alex Ovechkin, drafted in 2005 but not winning the Stanley Cup until 2018 after nine postseason exits. "I told Michael after the lottery, 'I fell for your plan -- hook, line and sinker,'" Leonsis joked. ## Dawkins clears his mind before the lottery Dawkins drove a rented navy Jeep Wagoneer two hours before the lottery, playing gospel singer/rapper Kirk Franklin's music. He wanted to clear his mind and not dwell on the event. Instead of going to Navy Pier, he joined scouts at 167 Green, an event space 17 floors above the Fulton Market District with a basketball court and views of the Chicago skyline. ## Pickup basketball during the wait As the lottery unfolded, Dawkins and seven members of his evaluation team played pickup basketball. They muted their phones and smartwatches, avoiding lottery updates. Former NBA player Ish Smith arrived late with Marshall Forney, assistant GM of the G League Capital City Go-Go. Smith picked up a pair of pink and green A'ja Wilson A'Two sneakers at Niketown before joining the game. ## Reading the signals from timing Minutes before the lottery, Dawkins focused on bounce passes to teammate Amber Nichols, director of amateur evaluation. Travis Schlenk, senior VP of player personnel, was at the lottery and was supposed to call Dawkins at 2:30 p.m. "If you get a call at 2:15, you know you got five," Dawkins said. "You get a call at 2:18, you know you got four. If you get a call closer to 2:30, you know that you got a top-three pick." ## Confidence in a deep draft class The Wizards knew they couldn't fall lower than fifth and felt confident this draft would yield multiple players with All-Star potential. ESPN draft analyst Jeremy Woo projected BYU's AJ Dybantsa to be selected by Washington. "This draft is pretty deep," Dawkins said. "To know you can't fall further than five in a draft like this, you go in pretty confident knowing that you're going to get a good player anywhere you go." ## Staff refuses to check results mid-game Just before 2:30 p.m., Ketsia Colimon, vice president of strategic communications, asked the group if they wanted to know the lottery results. "No," Dawkins replied, echoed by the group. After confirming they were sure, Colimon pointed both index fingers up in the air. They celebrated with chest bumps and high-fives before resuming play for 30 more minutes. "It's definitely not a one-person draft," Dawkins reiterated the next day. ## Winger's morning signs and parking stroke of luck Winger's day began at Torali restaurant inside the Ritz-Carlton Chicago, where he noticed his salt-and-pepper-bearded server resembled Capitals' superstar Alex Ovechkin. Later, he rode in a Mercedes SUV to the lottery and found an open parking space steps from the Navy Pier entrance. A year ago, Winger was sick at home when Washington fell to sixth in the lottery. ## A triumphant return to the stage When Winger learned the franchise secured the top pick, he wondered to himself, "Did this really just happen?" Sam Presti, Oklahoma City's executive VP/GM, embraced Winger as a former assistant GM from 2010 to 2017. "You guys have worked your ass off for this and I'm so happy for you," Presti told him. The Wizards celebrated with smiles as they earned the No. 1 pick, becoming the first team to win the lottery after finishing with the league's worst record since 2019. ## Embracing the pain for future success At the team's dinner at Adalina Prime following the victory, Winger celebrated with Dawkins, coach Brian Keefe, assistant coach David Vanterpool, and staff. "There's a lot of pain that you endure for the possibility of being in this position," Winger said. "This No. 1 pick primarily is afforded to us by virtue of the pain that we voluntarily endured. The pain was damn near intolerable while we were enduring it." ## Draft planning begins immediately After dinner, Winger, Dawkins, and staff met to outline the draft, considering their own plans and those of other teams. Over the next six weeks, they have full leverage, including the potential to trade the pick amid reports the Bucks may listen to offers for Giannis Antetokounmpo. "We go into any draft with all of our options open," Dawkins said. "Not saying that's necessarily the intent to do something, but if you would just look at our track record." ## Symbolism of the top pick returns Wall peeked to see if Washington or Utah would be selected when deputy commissioner Mark Tatum pulled an envelope. "I see a little [Utah] purple and I'm like, 'Whoa!'" Wall said. "[Washington] really did it." The protected first-round pick traded with Wall to Houston for Russell Westbrook in 2020 had protections down to 1-through-8 in 2026. Washington kept that pick and won the lottery on Mother's Day. ## A full-circle moment for Wall Wall felt blessed by his late mother, Frances Pulley, and by God. "I feel like she was there," he said. "I feel like God was there. Both of them. It's a full-circle moment for me being that No. 1 pick, then to represent the Wizards and they end up getting another No. 1. What are the odds of that?"