Orlando Magic is the team graced with the first choice of the next draft. The Draft Lottery was held at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago. And the great smile of the night corresponded to Jamahl Mosley.
Orlando’s coach was the club’s representative at the ceremony. He was at the last minute replacing the president of Basketball Operations, Jeff Weltman. An unexpected change that paid off in the draw. Hunches sometimes prevail.
Orlando was the team most likely to reach the top pick. Matched with Houston Rockets and Detroit Pistons. The 3 with 14%.
The one in 2022 will be the fourth number 1 in the draft that will correspond to Magic. In 1992 Orlando selected Shaquille O’Neal. In 1993 it was done with Chris Webber. Although he traded him to Warriors in exchange for Penny Hardaway. And in 2004 she chose Dwight Howard. Both times, those 90 and the end of the 2000 coincided with the best moments of the franchise.
The team already had a couple of Top 10 picks last season. Jalen Suggs it didn’t work very well as a rookie. But Franz Wagner If he did.
Now, the 3 candidates to capture the first 3 positions in the draft are Jabari Smith, Chet Holmgren y Paolo Banchero. The top 3 picks seem to have a special prize in 2022 given those 3 names.
The second choice will correspond to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Thunder will also have the twelfth (via Clippers). And the third is from the Houston Rockets.
The Top 5 is completed by the Sacramento Kings and Detroit Pistons, in that order.
The rest are as follows: Pacers (sixth place), Blazers (seventh), Pelicans -via Lakers- (eighth), Spurs (ninth), Wizards (tenth), Knicks (eleventh), Hornets (thirteenth) and Cavaliers (fourteenth).
Among the representatives of the teams that put a face to the ceremony, highlight the presence of the players Damian Lillard (Blazers) y Domantas Sabonis (Kings) and former players David Robinson (Spurs), Richard Hamilton (pistons) y Anderson Varejao (Cavaliers).
