The race for top prospect Victor Wembanyama is surely over after San Antonio Spurs secured the first overall pick by winning the NBA Draft Lottery. Wembanyama is expected to be selected first overall in the upcoming Draft held in Brooklyn, New York, with the Frenchman one of the most hyped talents since LeBron James in 2003.
San Antonio Spurs have won the NBA Draft Lottery following the draw in Chicago on Tuesday night, meaning they’ll almost certainly end up with Wembanyama in June.
The NBA Lottery took place on Tuesday ahead of the Draft that’s being held on June 22, with the 14 teams that didn’t make the Play-Offs on standby to see if they could win the first overall pick. The Pistons, San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets all went into Tuesday with equal winning odds, but surprisingly the Pistons landed with the No.5 pick in a major shock.
The first 14 picks of the 2023 NBA Draft have now been confirmed in order, with those missing out on the Lottery settling for their original position based on how they finished the regular season – with the exception of the Portland Trail Blazers who luckily found themselves in the top four at the Pistons’ expense. But the Spurs are perhaps the biggest winners in recent Lottery history, as Wembanyama isn’t the type of player you see very often, if ever before.
Securing the No.2 pick for the 2023 NBA Draft was Charlotte Hornets, while Trail Blazers were followed by Houston Rockets for picks three and four. The final ten positions would’ve remained just as they were based on the regular season finish, but the Pistons dropped out meaning they’ll have the fifth pick while the New Orleans Pelicans remain with pick 14th.
Wembanyama may be the treasure, but there’s still a whole host of star talent up for grabs in the Draft this year, with Scoot Henderson, Brandon Miller and twins Ausar and Amen Thompson all extremely exciting prospects. It’s likely that they could be swooped up by the top five, but you just never know with the NBA Draft.
It’s a Draft pool drowned in talent, but unsurprisingly all of the talk has been about Wembanyama ever since the Frenchman declared for the 2023 NBA Draft. Wembanyama also stated he had no preference in where he ended up playing, stating there is no “wrong destination” for him.
“Every organisation is so careful about their players that there’s no wrong destination,” Wembanyama said. The Frenchman is living his dream, and remains humble despite being at the centre of NBA attention already. I realised pretty young I wanted to play in the NBA but it becomes a reality more every day,” Wembanyama said.
“I’m so lucky to have this dream within the reach of my hand.” But now he’s reached it, he’s ensuring his body is going to be ‘NBA ready’ for the 2023 season. “I’ve been working more than ever on my body with my personal trainer Guillaume [Alquier],” Wembanyama added.
“I’m ready to go over all sorts of obstacles. So far it’s worked pretty well. I haven’t missed a game yet. I’ve been there for my guys every game. There’s so many games in a NBA season. It’s hard to play all 82 games, some players are built a certain way. Others got to rest. My goal is to play the most games I can, and help my team as much as I can.”
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