Hornets move up in NBA Draft lottery, will pick second overall behind San Antonio
.JPG "Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball (1) reacts during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Detroit Pistons in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)")
There’s no reason for the Charlotte Hornets’ brass to sign up for those French lessons after all.
Armed with the fourth-best chance to land the No. 1 overall pick at Tuesday night’s NBA Draft Lottery and the subsequent opportunity to select Victor Wembanyama, the Hornets couldn’t overcome their 12% odds and drew the No. 2 spot.
San Antonio, which had a 14% chance, landed the top overall selection for the draft, which is set for June 22 in New York. Houston, Portland and Detroit rounded out the initial five picks.
“Almost a home run — a triple, though,” Hornets’ senior vice president of basketball operations/assistant GM Buzz Peterson told The Observer after fulfilling his duties as the team’s representative witnessing the actual drawing. “The front row was Orlando, Portland, Charlotte, San Antonio, Detroit, Houston. So you are on the front row and when the ball started spinning and going I was like, ‘Oh my God.’
“San Antonio got the first one and I’m like, ‘Geez. Hopefully, we can get to second.’ And when it came up and someone with the league was looking at the board and what the numbers were — the numbers were 7, 3, 5, 4.”
That’s when Peterson tried to pull out the piece of paper the league handed out with the specific combinations, a decoder of sorts. But there was a slight problem.
“I couldn’t find it quick enough,” Peterson said. “He said, ‘Charlotte’ and I just laid out on the table. Aw man, I said, ‘Unbelievable.’”
Even the normally cool and collected Mark Williams got a little nervous during the proceedings. Especially toward the end as the tension rose inside the ballroom at McCormick Place.
“When I saw Detroit get five, I was like, ‘It might get a little shaky,’” said Williams, who represented the team on the stage during the broadcast. “Nah, it was cool. My heart was beating a little bit, though.
“I was preparing myself for top four. Top four was a lock, so top four was good. But when Detroit went five and they weren’t in that top three, I was like, ‘All right. Something is about to shake.’ And then I saw the three. And then I was like, ‘Well, it’s one or two. So, you can’t go wrong.’”
Wembanyama would’ve given the Hornets an immediate boost in more ways than one and could have injected an international flavor into the franchise. His team’s games from France were broadcast live on the NBA’s app, providing spectacular looks at Wembanyama’s impressive talents.
But he’s headed for Texas and the Hornets instead get to choose the next best player off the board behind Wembanyama, whether that’s Alabama’s Brandon Miller, G League Ignite’s Scoot Henderson or someone else.
Miller is considered the premium wing in the draft by many and the Hornets have a hole to plug at the position after trading Jalen McDaniels to Philadelphia in February. If Wembanyama wasn’t in this draft, experts believe Henderson would be worthy as the top overall pick. But Henderson plays point guard, the same position as Ball, leaving question marks about what direction the Hornets may go in at No. 2.
Mitch Kupchak, the Hornets president of basketball operations/GM, didn’t discount the possibility of adding another natural floor general.
“Yeah, yeah I could see it,” Kupchak said. “We are getting a little bit more advanced in putting this team together. I think three years ago or even two, three years ago I would have said that without question that we are going to take the best available player, and that’s been our position the last three or four years when we are trying to accumulate talent.
“And I don’t think we are where we need to be from a talent level, but we’ve got a lot more talent now than we did two or three years ago. So, I think we can be a little bit picky and take into consideration not only the overall talent, but the position.”
Either way, the Hornets are still pumped they can get a premium talent to team alongside their star point guard. Apparently the little wooden cross Peterson’s mom gave him worked as a good luck charm. He had it in his right pocket, holding onto the special keepsake as tight as he could.
“We are going to get a good player,” Peterson said. “We will get a good player. We’ve got a lot of work to do. With Melo, we went from eight to three and now we went up from four to two, I was worried we may go back to six or something like that. But to move up two, I was happy.”
This story was originally published May 16, 2023 at 8:31 PM.
