No. 1 pick to Pistons
The Pistons won the Cade Cunningham sweepstakes.
For the first time in more than 50 years, Detroit will pick first because the Ping Pong balls fell its way in Tuesday’s draft lottery, providing a hard-luck franchise its best shot of resurrection following a decade-plus of struggles.
The reward is likely Cunningham, the projected No. 1 pick who averaged more than 20 points as an All-American freshman last season at Oklahoma State. The 6-foot- 8 lead guard has drawn comparisons to Luka Doncic and Penny Hardaway.
If the Pistons draft Cunningham, he’ll join a young and inexperienced roster that finished last season at 20-52 with the league’s second-worst record.
The Rockets, who owned the worst record, took the second pick, which was a good result considering it would’ve been conveyed to OKC if the pick fell out of the top four. The Cavaliers, Raptors and Magic round out the top five.
It’s considered a deep draft, but gets more complicated after Cunningham, with Gonzaga’s Jalen Suggs, USC’s Evan Mobley, Baylor’s Davion Mitchell and the G League’s Jalen Green and Jonathan Kuminga all considered top-10 picks.
The Pistons haven’t owned the first pick since they drafted Hall of Famer Bob Lanier in 1970, although they since drafted second twice with Isiah Thomas (1981) and Darko Milicic (2003).
There wasn’t much hype surrounding this draft lottery, partially because Cunningham isn’t quite a can’t-miss NBA prospect, and also because the marquee franchises weren’t involved.
For the Knicks, Tuesday represented the first draft lottery without their participation since 2016 (when they would’ve been in the lottery except their pick was traded to Denver for Carmelo Anthony five years prior).
On Tuesday, their absence was explained by something more encouraging – their unexpected push to the fourth-seed in the Eastern Conference last season.
The Knicks could still trade up on draft night, which has been pushed back to July 29 to accommodate the pandemic schedule. They own the 19th, 21st and 32nd picks, but adding three rookies to an already young roster doesn’t make as much sense as packaging them for a trade.
The Nets have the 27th pick after finishing second in the East.
The Warriors, with Steph Curry flashing his MVP stroke last season and Klay Thompson soon returning from an Achilles tear, have two picks in the lottery (7th and 14th), leaving them with strong assets to deal for a win-now player to assist their push for another championship run.
The Bulls, meanwhile, lost their top-3 protected lottery pick to the Magic, as part of their trade for Nikola Vucevic. The Thunder has three picks in the top-18.
FINAL DRAFT ORDER: 1. Detroit Pistons; 2. Houston Rockets; 3. Cleveland Cavaliers; 4. Toronto Raptors; 5. Orlando Magic; 6. OKC Thunder; 7. Golden State Warriors; 8. Orlando Magic; 9. Sacramento Kings; 10. New Orleans Pelicans; 11. Charlotte Hornets; 12. San Antonio Spurs; 13. Indiana Pacers; 14. Golden State Warriors; 15. Washington Wizards; 16. OKC Thunder; 17. Memphis Grizzlies; 8. OKC Thunder; 19. Knicks; 20; Atlanta Hawks; 21. Knicks; 22. L.A. Lakers; 23. Houston Rockets; 24. Houston Rockets; 25. L.A. Clippers; 26. Denver Nuggets; 27. Nets; 28. Philadelphia 76ers; 29. Phoenix Suns; 30. Utah Jazz.