Hawks land No. 23 pick after NBA tiebreakers determine 2026 draft order originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Atlanta Hawks now know where they’ll be picking—at least in part—after Monday’s NBA Draft tiebreakers didn’t fall in their favor.
Following a series of random drawings to resolve ties between teams with identical regular-season records, Atlanta landed the No. 23 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. The outcome comes after the Hawks lost multiple tiebreaker scenarios that could have shifted their draft positioning.
Atlanta originally finished the season at 46-36, tied with the Toronto Raptors. Had the Hawks won that particular tiebreaker, they would have secured the No. 20 pick. However, that selection is no longer theirs—it was previously traded to the San Antonio Spurs as part of the deal that brought Dejounte Murray to Atlanta.
Instead, the more consequential tiebreaker involved the Cleveland Cavaliers and Houston Rockets, who both finished the season with identical 52-30 records. The Hawks held Cleveland’s first-round pick after trading De’Andre Hunter to the Cavaliers, making the outcome of that drawing critical.
When Cleveland lost the tiebreaker to Houston, it slotted the Cavaliers’ pick at No. 23—ultimately where Atlanta will now select.
The Hawks’ draft positioning is further shaped by a savvy move from last summer. Atlanta owns the more favorable unprotected first-round pick between the New Orleans Pelicans and Milwaukee Bucks. With Milwaukee locked into the No. 10 spot, attention turned to New Orleans, which tied with the Dallas Mavericks for the No. 7 position.
The Pelicans won that tiebreaker, giving them a stronger position entering the draft lottery. They now hold a 29.3% chance to jump into the top four and a 6.8% chance to secure the No. 1 overall pick—odds that could significantly benefit Atlanta depending on how the lottery unfolds.
While the Hawks didn’t win the tiebreaker luck they may have hoped for, they remain well-positioned with multiple assets and flexibility heading into draft night. Between the No. 23 pick and the potential upside tied to the Pelicans’ lottery position, Atlanta still has avenues to improve its roster as it looks to build toward contention.