There was only one certainty: Victor Wembanyama — the most hyped basketball prospect in two decades — would be selected by the San Antonio Spurs with the first overall pick in the NBA Draft.
Whether Wembanyama becomes the face of the league or the next Ralph Sampson, the 7-foot-4 Frenchman will make this one of the most memorable drafts this century.
History will leave out much of what else occurred on draft day, but Wembanyama’s arrival to the NBA is just one of several notable moves made Thursday:
Another Chris Paul trade
Chris Paul may have another chance to chase an elusive NBA ring.
Less than a week after Paul, 38, was traded from Phoenix to Washington, the future Hall of Famer now appears set to join his longtime rivals in Golden State, which has agreed to send Jordan Poole — and his $140 million contract — to the Wizards.
Paul, whose title hopes with the Rockets were crushed in postseason losses to the Warriors in 2017-18, is an awkward fit on a team that struggles to stay healthy, prefers to play fast and with the ball in Steph Curry’s hands, but the best pure point guard of his generation also has the potential to thrive in a reduced role with the 2022 champs, setting up Curry and Klay Thompson with some of the cleanest looks of their careers.
Michael Jordan’s last dance
In his final draft as majority owner of the Charlotte Hornets, Jordan made a franchise-altering decision, choosing fit over potential by taking Alabama forward Brandon Miller with the second overall pick instead of standout guard Scoot Henderson.
Miller, who was named SEC Player of the Year after a controversial freshman season and shot better than 38 percent on 3-pointers, will form an intriguing duo with 21-year-old All-Star guard LaMelo Ball.
Dame and Scoot
In many years, Henderson would be the top overall pick. In this draft, the Trail Blazers saw the 6-foot-2 guard from the G League Ignite fall to them at No. 3.
Now, the NBA looks to see what the Trail Blazers will do next.
It is possible Henderson could soon be on the move, headlining a trade package to bring an established star to Portland to play alongside Damian Lillard.
It is more likely Henderson soon will become the face of the franchise with Portland beginning a rebuilding phase and giving Lillard a chance to play for a title contender, such as the Heat.
Family affair
The Rockets selected Amen Thompson with the fourth overall pick. The Pistons took his twin brother, Ausar, with the fifth overall pick, making them the first siblings ever to be selected in the top 10 of the same draft.
While the Overtime Elite prospects were taken where they were projected, Juwan Howard’s son Jett became the most puzzling pick of the night.
Projected as a late-first-round pick, the 6-foot-8 wing from Michigan was selected 11th overall by the Magic.
Howard, who averaged 14.2 points and hit 36.8 percent of 3-pointers as a freshman, provides immediate help from the perimeter, but better shooters (Kansas’ Gradey Dick, UConn’s Jordan Hawkins) were available.
Today’s back page
Read more:
🏀 2023 NBA Draft grades: How each team fared in the first round
⚾ Josh Donaldson’s boo-worthy Yankees play continues
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🏀 MUSHNICK: Bob Huggins’ downfall just latest con in sports
Brooklyn’s big swings
The Nets are miles from contention, making it an ideal time to take a chance in the draft — especially with two late-first-round picks.
With back-to-back selections, the Nets gambled on a pair of 18-year-olds, selecting Alabama big man Noah Clowney at No. 21 — one of the picks acquired in the trade that sent Kevin Durant to the Suns — and Duke wing Dariq Whitehead at No. 22.
Clowney, who is 6-foot-10, will provide much-needed size in the frontcourt and gives the Nets a versatile defender whose ceiling will be determined by his ability to improve his shooting. He averaged 9.8 points and 7.9 rebounds while playing 25.4 minutes per game in his lone season with the Crimson Tide.
Whitehead has the potential of a top-10 pick.
A five-star prospect coming out of high school, Whitehead is recovering from his second foot surgery of the past year. The 6-foot-7 wing was limited by injuries in his lone season at Duke, averaging just 8.3 points in 20.1 minutes per game.
Still, Whitehead showcased his potential from the perimeter, hitting 42.9 percent of 3-pointers, and has the size and athleticism to score from anywhere on the floor.
The Nets added Kansas forward Jalen Wilson with the No. 51 overall pick.
Is Kristaps the key for Boston?
Wembanyama may go down as the most uniquely gifted player basketball has ever seen. But he is not wholly original. 7-foot-something European unicorns have come before.
In 2015, the Knicks selected the most unusual talent in the NBA Draft, using the fourth overall pick on 7-foot-3 Kristaps Porzingis of Latvia.
“The risk is great,” then-Knicks president Phil Jackson said, “but the reward is great, too.”
Eight years later, the Celtics are gambling that Porzingis can help bring the team its first title since 2008.
Late Wednesday night, Boston agreed to a three-team trade headlined by Porzingis joining the Celtics, Marcus Smart going to the Grizzlies and Tyus Jones moving to the Wizards.
Falling short of another championship despite reaching the Eastern Conference Finals for the fifth time in seven years, the Celtics finally fractured their core by sending away Smart, who was the team’s longest-tenured player (2014 draft pick), emotional leader and the 2021-22 NBA Defensive Player of the Year.
Porzingis’ career has been defined by injuries and unfulfilled potential, but he still is seen as a worthwhile risk. He still represents possibility. He still has a skill set few big men in the sport have ever possessed. He doesn’t turn 28 until August.
Porzingis is coming off the best statistical season of his career, having averaged 23.2 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.5 blocks while shooting 38.5 percent on 3-pointers with the Wizards.
Bolstering a frontline with an aging Al Horford, 37, and a rarely healthy Rob Williams, Porzingis will provide a much-needed interior presence for the Celtics’ defense. On offense, he will attract less attention than ever — as the team’s third option, if Jaylen Brown returns — and receive a steady stream of uncontested looks on the perimeter for a team infatuated with 3-pointers.
After losing in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2017, the Celtics believed they became a title contender after trading away emotional leader Isaiah Thomas and acquiring Kyrie Irving. The generationally gifted guard brought the Celtics no closer to a championship.
It isn’t hard to imagine a similar scenario playing out with Porzingis, who exercised his $36 million player option for next season and can be a free agent next year.
Despite his extraordinary gifts, Porzingis has been traded three times in four years. He has been in the NBA for seven seasons, and has played in 10 total playoff games. He has been selected to one All-Star Game, which he missed after tearing his ACL during his final game with the Knicks in Feb. 2018.
Porzingis played in 48 games that season and missed the entire 2018-19 season. Since then, he has played in an average of 54 games per season. His 65 starts with Washington this season amounted to the most games he had played since his second season with the Knicks (2016-17).
If healthy — yes, a huge if — Porzingis should perfectly complement the Celtics. Of course, most people thought the same thing when the Mavericks acquired Porzingis from the Knicks and paired him with Luka Doncic.
“On paper, it would be the perfect fit, but it just didn’t mesh the way that we wanted to,” Porzingis told Yahoo Sports this season. “We just did not mesh together well. Sometimes it’s like that in the workplace, you know? It just didn’t work out the way you expected.
“Luka is a generational talent. You have to put the perfect team around him to try to get the maximum out of him, you know? I just wasn’t the right guy.”
Is Porzingis the right guy alongside Tatum? How will he enjoy being a third option? How will he handle the enormous expectations of a title contender and the pressure of Boston?
The Celtics had to find out. Unicorns aren’t born every year.
A $33 million chip off the old block
Dan Hurley was in Brooklyn on Thursday night, waiting to see where UConn’s stars would spend upcoming NBA seasons.
Hours earlier, the Huskies coach solidified his future plans.
Fresh off leading the Huskies to a national championship, Hurley, 50, agreed to a new six-year contract — running through the 2028-29 season — worth nearly $33 million, placing the New Jersey native among the nation’s 10 highest-paid head coaches.
Hurley has gone 104-55 in five seasons at UConn, making three consecutive NCAA Tournament trips and returning the storied program to national prominence.
A top-five recruiting class will join him at UConn next season, giving Hurley a chance to become the first coach to win back-to-back national championships since Billy Donovan (2006-07).
Hurley’s coaching rise is one of the most remarkable in recent memory. He spent nine years (2001-10) building a national high school power as the head coach at St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark. In a span of two years, he turned a five-win program at Wagner into a 25-win team. He made back-to-back trips to the NCAA Tournament at Rhode Island, ending the school’s 18-year drought.
His father, Bob, was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010, finishing his 39-year career at St. Anthony’s with four national championships and 28 state championships. His brother, Bobby, was one of the biggest stars in college basketball history, a two-time national champion at Duke who is still the all-time NCAA assists leader.
“It’s an incredible feeling to finally kind of hold up your end of the bargain in the family,” Dan said on ESPN last night. “Just took until I turned 50.”
In coaching, he’s still a kid.
