After a miserable season in Indiana, Pacers fans had hoped to get some reprieve in the 2026 NBA Draft, as their team finished with the second-worst record and would surely be picking high.  The basketball gods had other ideas on Sunday when the league hosted the NBA draft lottery and the Pacers saw their name called for the No. 5 pick. The problem was that the team traded that pick to the Clippers for Ivica Zubac and only made the pick top-four protected. The reaction was swift after the Pacers (19-63) were perceived to have tanked their season in order to get a high draft pick, only to see that go by the wayside. They started the day with a  52.1 percent chance at a top-four pick. President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard of the Indiana Pacers NBAE via Getty Images Team president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard even took to social media to apologize on Sunday afternoon after the draft lottery.  “I’m really sorry to all our fans,” Pritchard wrote on X .…