CHICAGO, Illinois, May 16, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — The San Antonio Spurs won the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes Tuesday night, earning the right to select the 7-foot-5 French phenom with the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft.
The Spurs were one of three teams with the best odds (14%) at landing the top pick, which almost certainly will be spent on Wembanyama, 19, of Le Chesnay, France.
A handful of teams, including the Utah Jazz, were suspected of tanking during the 2022-23 season with hopes of landing Wembanyama, a generational talent and perhaps the most promising prospect in the league’s history.
San Antonio has been fortunate in past draft lotteries and with their No. 1 selections, landing David Robinson in 1987 and Tim Duncan in 1997.
Utah, which had a 4.5% chance of getting the No. 1 pick, saw its pingpong ball come up in the No. 9 spot at the NBA Draft Lottery at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago. The Jazz also own the No. 16 (from Minnesota) and No. 28 (from Philadelphia) picks in the first round.
Utah sent guard Collin Sexton to Chicago to represent the Jazz in the NBA Draft Lottery. The team posted a video message from Sexton on social media, with the first-year Jazzman sharing the good luck charms he planned to take with him to the lottery.
“I will be bringing some special $2 bills here and there,” he said, “because I remember a tradition that my grandma and my great grandma used to do is give $2 bills on birthdays as well as Christmas as a sign of good luck. So I’ll have a few of them in my pocket so we can get a great, great draft pick.”
The Jazz have never had the No. 1 overall pick but landed Darrell Griffith at No. 2 in 1989 and used No. 3 picks on Deron Williams (2005) and Enes Freedom (2011). Utah has picked in the top 10 eight times in franchise history.
Wembanyama averaged 21.6 points, 10.5 rebounds, 3.1 blocks and 2.5 assists per game this season for Metropolitans 92 of Betclic Elite, the top-tier men’s professional league in France.
Other top prospects in the 2023 NBA Draft include Alabama’s Brandon Miller, Scoot Henderson of the G League, Central Florida’s Taylor Hendricks and twins Ausar and Amen Thompson of Overtime Elite.
The lottery sets the order for the first 14 picks of the 2023 NBA Draft on June 22. The lottery machine uses pingpong balls to determine the first four picks, with Nos. 5-14 then picking in reverse order of their 2022-23 regular-season record.
The Detroit Pistons, which finished an NBA-worst 17-65, fell out of the top four and ended up with the No. 5 pick.
The Orlando Magic won last year’s lottery and selected former Duke star Paolo Banchero, who went on to win NBA Rookie of the Year.
2023 NBA Draft Lottery
- San Antonio Spurs
- Charlotte Hornets
- Portland Trail Blazers
- Houston Rockets
- Detroit Pistons
- Orlando Magic
- Indiana Pacers
- Washington Wizards
- Utah Jazz
- Dallas Mavericks
- Chicago Bulls (to Orlando)
- Oklahoma City
- Toronto
- New Orleans
