Five Owed 2026 First-Round Picks Worth Monitoring

Here are five notable traded 2026 first-round picks worth monitoring, including two whose teams' will be motivated to keep within it's protected range.

We’re just three weeks into the regular season, but it isn’t too early to analyze first-round picks owed in the 2026 draft. That’s because there are up to eight within the top 20 that could be conveyed. Today’s order will change significantly, but there are motivating factors that could steer a team up or down the standings.

Here are some of the most interesting owed first-round draft picks worth monitoring. (As you can tell by the thumbnail, there is one team that is disproportionally benefiting from this.)

Washington Wizards

Current Record: 1-9

Projected Draft Slot: 1st

Protection: Top-8 to the Knicks. If it lands outside the protected range, it’ll become two second-round picks.

Despite the Wizards’ 1-9 start, they’ve made progress with several players taking steps forward. Kyshawn George has emerged as a starting-level jack-of-all-trades player who can do many things on both ends of the court. Alex Sarr has leveled up defensively and as a passer, and his efficiency significantly improved as a result of better shot selection. Tre Johnson arguably has had the best start of any rookie they selected in over a decade.

These developments could be enough to begin transitioning to the next phase of their rebuild, where they could compete for a Play-In spot as early as 2026. That’s why they must go through one more draft cycle, including a high lottery pick.

In 2020, they traded John Wall and a heavily protected 2023 first-round pick to the Rockets for Russell Westbrook. The Rockets traded that pick to the Thunder in 2021 as part of their package for the draft pick they’d use on Alperen Sengun, and the Thunder later traded that pick to the Knicks in 2022 as part of their package for the draft pick they’d use on Ousmane Dieng.

That selection landed within the protected range from 2023 through 2025, and it remains in the top-8 protected this year. The Knicks would instead get the Wizards’ second-round picks in 2026 and 2027 if it falls within the protected range.

Teams in the lottery can move down a maximum of four spots from their projected draft slot based on their record. The Wizards currently have the worst record in the league, but as long as they finish with no higher than the fourth-worst record, they’re guaranteed to keep their pick. They’ll need that cushion when factoring in some other teams that will be trying to position themselves for the highest lottery odds.