The NBA Draft was Thursday night, and as expected, French phenom Victor Wembanyama was selected first overall by the San Antonio Spurs.
The 7-foot-4 center had been the consensus top pick for almost a year, and the real excitement in Wemby’s selection came when the draft lottery was held back in May.
Still, for Spurs fans and San Antonio sports media, the big moment came with plenty of fanfare.
The Charlotte Hornets selected Alabama forward Brandon Miller with the second overall pick. The Hornets fanbase didn’t seem thrilled by the selection, given Miller’s past.
The Portland Trail Blazers took Scoot Henderson out of the G League with the third pick. It comes at a time where franchise star Damian Lillard is at a crossroads and his future in Portland seems up in the air.
The Houston Rockets took Amen Thompson with the fourth pick. Thompson in his interview seemed to get some Texas fast-food fans upset saying in an interview after his selection that he preferred In-N-Out over Lone Star State institution Whataburger.
Meanwhile Amen’s twin brother Ausar went number five to the Detroit Pistons.
Arkansas guard Anthony Black ended up coming off the board at pick number six to the Orlando Magic.
The seventh and eighth picks are where the night got interesting. The Indiana Pacers originally selected Wembanyama’s French pro league teammate Bilal Coulibaly at seven, while the Washington Wizards went with Houston forward Jarace Walker at eight.
But the two teams ended up swapping those picks later in the first round. Washington is in a full rebuild and just traded star Bradley Beal to the Suns over the weekend for Chris Paul and a haul of picks. The Wizards eventually traded Paul to Golden State and Kristaps Porzingis to Boston for Jordan Poole and even more selections.
The whole process to announce the picks and then the swap for those picks seemed to be a bit confusing.
The Utah Jazz took Taylor Hendricks at ninth overall out of Central Florida, and Cason Wallace, was picked 10th by the Dallas Mavericks. But the Mavericks traded Lively to Oklahoma City for Dereck Lively II, a center out of Duke.
