The NBA held it’s draft lottery last night. Now there are a lot of people who believe the lottery is rigged and I happened to be one of those people. Now last nights lottery did nothing to slow down the conspiracy theorist at all.
The New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers and the Phoenix Suns each had an equal chance to win the draft lottery with the Chicago Bulls next in line percentage wise. When it was all said and done the Knicks where the only team that stayed in the inside the Top 5. The Cavaliers ended up with the 5th pick, the Suns pick 6th and the Bulls pick 7th. Even the Knicks fell a little as they ended up with the 3rd overall pick.
The overall winner of the draft lottery was the New Orleans Pelicans who will have the #1 pick and the right to select Zion Williamson. The Memphis Grizzlies moved up to the #2 spot while the Knicks sit at #3. The Los Angeles Lakers jumped up all the way to #4 which was no surprise at all to me as I expected the Lakers to come away with the #1 pick.
Now I’m sure most people would look at this and not think there was anything fishy going on, but let’s take a closer look at how things fell out.
As I mentioned I thought the Lakers would end up at #1 and if it wasn’t them it would be the Knicks who got the first pick. but New Orleans fits into this conspiracy just fine.
As everyone knows Anthony Davis has no interest in returning to New Orleans next season and since he’s signed with the agency that LeBron James owns it’s no shock at all that he wants to play with the Lakers. The two teams tried to work out a trade around the deadline, but couldn’t come to terms on a deal because the Lakers didn’t have enough assets for the Pelicans to make the trade. Now the trade package the Lakers can offer has greatly improved.
I’m guessing the deal will go down something like this. The Lakers will send the #4 pick along with multiple other draft picks to New Orleans with Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball for Davis.
The Lakers will get the star they want in Davis and James will be able to shape the team the way he wats with that young core gone. This should also be enough for the Lakers to return to the playoffs even in the tough Western Conference which is where the NBA wants them.
The Pelicans will gain a solid core of young players that they immediately add Williamson and one other young talent that they’ll get with the 4th pick to the mix. Remember most experts think that there are four top players in this draft; so the Lakers pick landed just inside of where they needed it to for this deal to happen.
Memphis landing at #2 may have been the biggest surprise of the night, but when you look at the Grizzlies closely you can understand why the NBA wanted them up there.
Memphis is one of the lowest drawing teams in the league and last season they tried to sell for their top players. Marc Gasol ended up in the Eastern Conference finals as a member of the Toronto Raptors, but the Grizzlies where unable to find a taker for Mike Conley. You’d have t think without a top pick in this draft that Memphis would deal Conley in the off season and that may still happen.
By landing in the 2nd spot of the draft the Grizzlies will most likely select Ja Morant. There are experts who think Morant might be a better NBA player right out of the gate than Williamson. Now don’t go crazy their not saying for his career; just for the start of their rookie seasons. This would give Memphis a bonafide young superstar for fans to come out and watch as the teams begins a rebuild.
The Knicks came away with the 3rd pick in the draft and I’m not really sure if there’s anything of interest here. There where repots that if the Knicks landed the #1 pick in the draft they’d try to trade it to New Orleans for Davis. I guess you could look at the fact that the Knicks are owed by James Dolan who is not only the worst owner in the NBA, but the worst owner in all of professional sports; so maybe the NBA didn’t want to do him ay favors and allow him to end up with Williamson.
Luckily for the Knicks they landed n a spot where they should be able to draft a young player like R.J. Barrett to help their team out. The other teams with chances like the Knicks in the lottery; the Cavaliers, Suns and the Bulls will all be back in the draft lottery next season with the picks they got.
The other team that walked away from the draft lottery with some bad luck was the Atlanta Hawks.
The Hawks had two chances to move into the top of the draft since they also owned the Dallas Mavericks pick. Sadly for the Hawks they didn’t get close to a top pick as they ended up at #8 and #10. It would’ve been very interesting if the Hawks had moved up into the Top 3 and would’ve been able to select one of those players that will go in those spots.
Now no matter which side of the draft lottery conspiracy you’re on there are two things that you have to remember. 1) The draft lottery is a made for television event and 2) the NBA is a business and they’re going to do what’s best for business.
It’s always been good for the NBA when the Lakers and the Boston Celtics are good. The Celtics where a playoff team even though they where a bit of a disappointment in the playoffs, but the Lakers on the other hand need some help to find their way into the playoffs. While it appears as though the Celtics will be good enough to find their way into the playoffs next year the Lakers would need some help. Did the NBA give the Lakers enough help to get into the playoffs next season?
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