The league won Tuesday night.
Sure, basketball life down in the Big Easy may never be the same after New Orleans landed the top pick in the NBA draft lottery and a chance at man-child Zion Williamson, but the NBA was the clear-cut winner in the latest high-stakes game of chance.
“The league doesn’t want teams early in the season to stop playing, so they got what they wanted, and I think at the end of the day that’s a good thing for the league,’’ Bulls vice president of basketball operations John Paxson said. “Look at what happened. From a league perspective they have to be thrilled about how it turned out from the excitement of it.
“What they’ve envisioned probably fell true. I had a feeling something odd was going to happen and it did.’’
Odd? Yes. Beneficial to Paxson and the Bulls? Not even close.
In finishing with the fourth-worst record this season, the Bulls watched any chance at Williamson or point guard Ja Morant crushed with the reading of the No. 7 pick and their logo being held up on the white card.
“First of all it’s not catastrophic,’’ Paxson told the Sun-Times afterward.
What it was, however, was the NBA saying tanking is no longer a sustainable way of life. Of the three teams that played that game of tanking chicken – New York, Cleveland and Phoenix – only the Knicks finished in the top three of the lottery, and that was at No. 3.
A cruel gut-punch, considering No. 3 is where many scouts feel this draft has a drastic drop-off after one and two.
What the Association also has is yet another primetime drama to capture audiences each May, with the draft lottery proving to be must-see TV. The ultimate reality show with unforeseen twists and turns.
Yes, the Pelicans may have seen the franchise change on Tuesday night, but the NBA was yet again atop the mountain of winning.
Other winners:
— David Griffin, Pelicans VP of basketball operations – So you still want to leave, Anthony Davis? That’s a question Griffin can boldly ask his All-Star big man, especially with Davis potentially having Williamson as a running partner. And if Davis still wants out, the blow of losing his skillset was softened with New Orleans having a chance of flipping him for more assets and jumpstarting the rebuild.
— Memphis Grizzlies – Yes, the payroll is still a disaster, but having the No. 2 pick and a shot at Ja Morant offers up a chance to start the rebuild much quicker. Mike Conley and his $67 million owed for two more years, anyone?
— Los Angeles Lakers – Rather than having the 11th overall pick to package for more potential big-name talent, Showtime jumped up to No. 4. The plot thickens.
— Bulls point guard Kris Dunn – Ja who?
The losers:
— New York – R.J. Barrett could end up being an All-Star for years to come, but it’s no secret what the Knicks did this season, clearing the decks for two max players in free agency and hoping to land Williamson with the No. 1 pick. All eyes are forced to turn towards July.
— 14 percenters – The Knicks, Cavaliers and Sun each had a 14 percent chance of landing No. 1 – the highest odds in the lottery. Failure for all three.
— Conspiracy theories – So the NBA only wants the biggest stars in major markets? Again, that ridiculous theory takes another hit.
— Bulls fans – Superstar free agents are obviously hard to come by, especially for this organization. The Bulls have had to grow their stars in-house. That’s what Williamson or Morant would have continued, but in the case of Williamson, he could have also been the ultimate recruiter for something bigger down the road. All a pipedream after Tuesday.
