Everything You Need to Know For the NBA Draft Lottery
By Ethan Smith
What Do the Wizards Want?
It probably goes without saying that the Washington Wizards want the number one pick. If you haven’t heard the Zion Williamson hype by now, you’ve been living under a rock. And even then you still might have caught a viral video or two of his hellacious dunks.
The Wizards might not have the best odds, but stranger things have happened. The Cleveland Cavaliers landed the number one pick with just a 1.7 percent chance in 2014. The Orlando Magic had a 1.52 percent chance of winning the lottery when they took Shaquille O’Neal first overall in 1993. The New Jersey Nets won in 2000 with just a 4.4 percent chance. The Chicago Bulls drafted Derrick Rose first overall in 2008 and only had a 1.7 percent chance at the first pick. So there is a chance.
The Wizards, though, are in an interesting spot. The talent at the top of this draft makes selecting in the top three a no-brainer. Zion Williamson, Ja Morant, and RJ Barrett are all pretty close to sure things, and could all fill immediate needs for the Wizards.
De’Andre Hunter, Jarrett Culver and Coby White headline the second tier of prospects, but the Wizards might consider other options the further they get from the top spot.
If the balls aren’t bouncing their way tonight, the Wizards should seriously consider shopping their top-ten pick around. The Wizards need to fill a lot of holes. They won’t have a lot of money to do so. So shopping around a valuable asset for more picks would be helpful. The Wizards don’t have a second round pick this year, and currently, after all. And their future drafts look bleak, too. As it stands now, the Wizards won’t draft in the second round until 2023.
More picks would be great. But shopping around a top-ten pick for some bandaid, plug-and-play roster filler would feel too much like the Grunfeld era again already.