Charlotte Hornets have picked their rep for NBA draft lottery. His job? Bring them luck
The Charlotte Hornets have chosen their on-stage representative for Tuesday night’s NBA draft lottery, and he’s not going to be hard to spot on TV.
Mark Williams, who just finished his rookie season playing for the Hornets, will be the team’s on-stage rep and 7-foot good luck charm.
“To go full circle in representing the Hornets in that short amount of time is pretty cool,” Williams said in a statement provided by the Hornets.
It was only a year ago that Williams, who played collegiately at Duke and was the ACC’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2022, ended up in Charlotte after being drafted No. 15 overall by the Hornets. Williams then had a season that got stronger as it went on, ending up with averages of 9.0 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in the 43 games in which he played. By the end of the 2022-23 season, he was a starter.
Williams’ job Tuesday night in the draft lottery basically boils down to sitting in a chair and acting as the literal face of the franchise when the picks are revealed. There will be 14 NBA team representatives on-stage — one for each of the NBA’s 14 lottery teams.
The draft lottery starts at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday and will be shown on ESPN. By virtue of having the fourth-worst record in the NBA this past season at 27-55, the Hornets are guaranteed to pick no worse than eighth. in the NBA Draft, which will be held June 22.
Charlotte’s lottery-fueled chance at the No. 1 pick is 12.5%, and with that pick the Hornets and likely all of the other NBA lottery teams would select French teenager Victor Wembanyama, who is 7-foot-3 and considered a generational talent. The Hornets have a 48% overall chance of obtaining a top-four pick.
In the draft lottery, four teams are selected for spots 1-4, and everyone else is then placed in order from fewest to most number of victories in the 2022 regular season. The teams with the best chance to earn the No. 1 pick in the lottery are Detroit, Houston and San Antonio, who all had a worse record than Charlotte and who all have an identical 14% chance.
The Hornets’ odds for each pick, in order: No. 1 overall (12.5%), second (12.2%), third (11.9%), fourth (11.5%), fifth (7.2%), sixth (25.7%), seventh (16.8%) or eighth (2.2%).
This story was originally published May 11, 2023 at 11:33 AM.
