Magic takes Banchero 1st in draft, Holmgren follows
The Orlando Magic selected Duke forward Paolo Banchero on Thursday night with the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft.
After leading the Blue Devils to the Final Four in coach Mike Krzyzewski’s final season, the 6-foot-10 forward was called first by NBA commissioner Adam Silver
to begin the draft, beating out fellow first-year forwards Jabari Smith Jr.
and Chet Holmgren.
Banchero, wearing a purple suit full of bling, received a loud ovation inside Barclays Center, where Duke lost in the ACC Tournament final.
The Magic was picking first for the fourth time and has done well with its previous choices. Orlando took Shaquille O'Neal in 1992, traded the rights to Chris Webber for Penny Hardaway the next year, and went with Dwight Howard in 2004.
All eventually reached the NBA Finals with the Magic.
Holmgren went second to the Oklahoma City Thunder after the 7-footer led the West Coast Conference in blocked shots, rebounding and shooting percentage at Gonzaga. He looked sharp in his black suit but may need it to eventually be a bigger size for success in the NBA, as he's listed at just 195 pounds.
The Houston Rockets took Smith third, happy to end up with a player who many thought would end up going first. The 6-10 forward from Auburn is a natural fit in the current NBA game, able to defend all three frontcourt positions and with a shooting stroke that allowed him to hit 42% behind the arc.
Forward Keegan Murray, after a huge leap in his second season in
Iowa, jumped all the way to the No. 4 pick by the Sacramento Kings. The Detroit Pistons, a year after taking Cade Cunningham with the No. 1 pick, took athletic Purdue guard Jaden Ivey fifth.
Before the selections began, Silver congratulated the Golden State Warriors on their recent NBA championship and reminded fans that their core of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and
Draymond Green was built through the draft.
All the teams at the top of this draft need help and have recent high picks already on their rosters, so will hope the Warriors way works for them as well.
Bennedict Mathurin, a Canadian who played at Arizona, went to Indiana with the No. 6 pick. The Portland Trail Blazers followed with Kentucky’s
Shaedon Sharpe, Dyson Daniels of the G League Ignite was taken eighth
by New Orleans, Baylor's Jeremy Sochan stayed in Texas with San Antonio at No. 9, and Washington rounded out the top 10 with Wisconsin’s Johnny Davis.
ELSEWHERE
Bucks: Giannis Antetokounmpo didn’t watch this year’s NBA Finals. The series he dominated last year like few players have was too stressful to view as a fan.
“Like, I get too tensed up, because I just start sweating on the couch,” Antetokounmpo said.
He prefers being on the
court, especially because his brother plays with him.
Antetokounmpo took up basketball in Greece with his brother Thanasis and they are still together now on the Milwaukee Bucks — who have a few players who know what it’s like to have siblings in the NBA.
“Me and Thanasis were playing on the same team for more than 10 years. So, it’s almost like two co-workers going to work every day,” Antetokounmpo said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I don’t see
him as my brother when I’m at work. He does his job, I do my job, but obviously when the game is over, when the practice is over, we spend time together, as much as we can.
“He makes my life way easier.”
Their other three brothers are elsewhere in the world. But the difficulties their family faced while living in Athens has kept them close, a story that’s told in “Rise,” which debuts Friday on Disney+.
The movie includes some highlights from the 2021 NBA Finals, when Antetokounmpo averaged 35.2 points, 13.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists in leading the Bucks to their first championship in 50 years. But he said the film, for which he served as an executive producer, isn’t really about basketball.
“No, this is a movie about my dad and my mom,” Antetokounmpo said, “the sacrifices they made, how dedicated they were to providing for us, the difficulties that they faced every single day in their lives and the fear they had when they were walking the streets of Athens.
“That’s the real story.” Charles and Vera Antetokounmpo moved from Nigeria to Athens, leaving their oldest son with family, but were never able to obtain Greek citizenship, which continued to provide disappointment and danger, even though the other four sons were born in the country. Basketball eventually provided the security they could never get when Giannis entered the 2013 NBA Draft and was selected by the Bucks with the No. 15 pick.
One of the worst teams in the NBA when he arrived, the Bucks have become one of the best behind Antetokounmpo, a two-time NBA MVP.
“A lot of people ask me, ‘Hey, would you change your childhood, would you like to have a different life than the life you had and the upbringing you had?’ ” Antetokounmpo said. “Like, no way, no way, because that’s what makes us who we are today.”