What lottery pick will the Sixers get? Here’s where the tank stands.

Last year around this time, the 76ers were fighting for a playoff spot. Now, losing is the new winning as Philly hopes to land a top pick in the 2025 NBA draft.

The tanking Sixers (23-56) take their 12-game losing streak to Washington, where they’ll face the last-place Wizards (17-62) in a contest neither team wants to win. So it should be a fun game for Kate Scott and Alaa Abdelnaby, who will call the game on NBC Sports Philadelphia beginning at 7 p.m.

Lots of teams are vying to secure the best chance of drafting Duke’s Cooper Flagg, the consensus No. 1 pick in this year’s draft. Other top prospects include fellow Duke standout Kon Knueppel, Baylor’s VJ Edgecombe, and Rutgers stars Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey. One intriguing option for the Sixers could be Duke big man Khaman Maluach, who could be a reliable backup to an injury-hampered Joel Embiid.

Or the balls could bounce the Sixers way and Flagg could end up in Philly. In the past 30 years, the Sixers have had the No. 1 pick just three times, with mixed results.

In 1996 they used it to take Hall of Famer Allen Iverson, while in 2016 — the last Sixers’ tank — they wasted it on malcontent Ben Simmons, who is currently playing for Los Angeles Clippers (47-29) after being waived by the also-tanking Brooklyn Nets (26-53). In 2017 they used the No. 1 pick to take Markelle Fultz, who lasted just two years in Philly before being traded to the Orlando Magic (39-40).

Increasing their odds of landing the No. 1 pick isn’t the only reason the Sixers have returned to their tanking ways. Philly needs to land a top-six pick in the lottery to keep their first-round pick in this year’s NBA draft; otherwise it goes to the Oklahoma City Thunder (65-14).

“It comes down to incentives,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said about tanking at the board of governors meeting last month. “I’m not sitting here saying here’s the new calibration to the draft lottery and that’ll solve it. We don’t have a new plan at the moment.”

Here’s everything you need to know about the NBA lottery and the Sixers’ chances:

The Sixers’ enter Wednesday’s game with the league’s fifth-worst record. And with just three games remaining, they’re almost a lock to remain there.

For the Sixers to get bumped down to the sixth-worst record, they would need to overtake the equally hapless Nets, who currently lead Philly by 2 games. So the only way the Sixers could ruin their position is by breaking off a late-season winning streak, which no one seems to want.

“I feel like everyone understands what the goal is,” said rookie center Adem Bona, who is benefiting from tank minutes. “The bigger goal is to come back next year healthier, compete for the championship. So right now, we’re just building toward that.”

There’s not much room to move down. The New Orleans Pelicans (21-58) would need to end the season on a three-game winning streak against the Milwaukee Bucks (45-34), Miami Heat (36-43), and Thunder for the Sixers to overtake them and claim the league’s fourth-worst record.

The Sixers traded away their 2025 first-round pick to the Thunder as part of the Al Horford deal. But as part of the trade, the Sixers can keep the pick if it’s among the top six of the draft.

So what place the Sixers end the season is important. If Philly finishes with the fifth-worst record in the league, they’ll have a 63.9% chance of holding onto the pick. The odds jump to 81% in the unlikely event they overtake the Pelicans and end up with the fourth-worst record.

If the Sixers go on an unlikely winning streak and end up with the sixth-worst record, the odds of keeping their first round pick drops to 45.8%.

All 14 NBA teams that miss the playoffs are eligible for the league’s draft lottery.

Here are each team’s odds of landing the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft, barring any tied records at the end of the season:

If two teams do have identical records (last year there were six tiebreakers), those are settled through random drawings conducted by the league and overseen by an outside accounting firm.

The NBA lottery will take place May 12 in Chicago, ahead of Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.

Though technically not part of the playoffs, the NBA’s play-in tournament begins Tuesday, April 15, and runs through Friday, April 18. The tournament features eight teams fighting over the final four playoff spots, two in each conference.

The NBA playoffs officially begin with the first round, with the first game scheduled for April 19.

Sixteen teams will ultimately make the playoffs, eight in each conference. Each playoff round, including the NBA finals, are a best-of-seven series with the higher seed gaining home court advantage.

With its NBA TV deal expiring at the end of the season, this is the final year TNT is broadcasting the NBA playoffs. They’ll be replaced next year by NBC and Amazon’s Prime Video, though Charles Barkley and company will still appear on ESPN.

Here’s this year’s NBA playoff TV schedule: