The most memorable image of the 2019 NBA Draft actually came about a month before, the night the New Orleans Pelicans won the lottery for the right to the first overall pick.
When that small fortune was revealed (New Orleans only had a 6% chance of winning), a camera was pointed at the team’s ticket department, which then erupted into a level of delirium similar to actually winning. that NBA championship.
You can’t blame them. Zion Williamson is about to become a Pelican, and if nothing else, selling tickets is about to become an easy job. Championships are expected to follow.
The Memphis Grizzlies technically lost the last rotation of the lottery balls — they finished No. 2 picks. No disappointment expressed though. The second means the opportunity to grab Ja Morant, a high-flying sensation fresh off an electric NCAA tournament with Murray State.
“I always tell people you have to be lucky and smart,” Grizzlies president Jason Wexler said at the time. “… We are lucky tonight.”
Zion and Ja. Ja and Zion.
Two South Carolina kids, and one-time AAU teammates, came to the NBA with their own unique combination of power, athleticism and flair. The league is happy to add young talent, the kind that can fill highlight shows and social media feeds with breathtaking plays.
Four years on, there have been flashes of genius and jump-out-of-your-seat moments, but there have also been injuries and suspensions, controversies and questions.
Four years later – when the NBA was about to hold another draft with another new generation of talent that would cause anticipation and celebration – Zion and Ja were at a crossroads and absolutely no one knew. -an where or how it will end.
One is the subject of health concerns and trade rumors. One is suspended. Again.
That’s how easy it is to recover.
Thursday in New York will focus on Victor Wembanyama, the 7-foot-4 Frenchman who plays a game like no one else. He will go to San Antonio. After that, comes Scoot Henderson, a slashing guard, or maybe Brandon Miller, a smooth and loose outside shooter. They may go to Charlotte and Portland in some order.
Four years ago New Orleans shut down Fulton Street Square in the Warehouse District to hold a fan party – brass bands, drumlines, dance teams – to welcome their new savior, Zion.
Thursday it will be San Antonio that will host a party at the AT&T Center and another at an outdoor venue in Austin. Wembanyama-mania is so big in Texas, it can’t be contained in just one city.
There are no guarantees though. Never, because obstacles and troubles can come in unexpected ways.
Williamson has never been able to stay healthy. A meniscus tear delayed the start of his rookie season by several months. An entire year was lost due to a broken leg. Along the way, the hamstrings, knees, ankles, handling the load … it’s one thing after another for a person who can prove to be too big and too strong for the sport.
Zion played just 114 games in four seasons and missed the playoffs. And now he’s involved in a social-media soap opera that’s causing all the wrong kinds of public chatter and helping sales prospects.
When he’s healthy, focused and in shape, the two-time All-Star is still a sight to behold. Whether he can do that again, and for how long, is completely unknown.
That draft lottery excitement seems like a distant memory.
Morant, meanwhile, usually delivers on the court. He is one of the NBA’s biggest attractions, a two-time All-Star who plays above the rim. The dunks. The blocks. It’s all there. And the Grizzlies are slowly becoming a winner with three straight playoff appearances, albeit just one winning streak.
Off the court Morant was a mess. The NBA suspended him for eight games last season after he was seen on an Instagram Live video brandishing a gun inside a Denver strip club, a violation of the league’s conduct policy. It’s about tanking a good time.
Morant vowed to get better but earlier this spring he was again seen on social media with a weapon, prompting the NBA to suspend him for the first 25 games of the 2023-24 season.
“I realize how much pain I have caused,” Morant said in a statement.
That includes the pain it caused his own career. What exactly led Morant to self-destructive decisions — and easily avoidable incidents — is unclear. It’s also not clear that he can figure out how to be better in the future, so that he can have a future.
Zion and Ja may still be on the path to greatness. Or maybe not.
There is nothing in common between them and Wembanyama, Henderson or Miller. What happened to the former may not affect the latter. Different people. Different circumstances. Even past mistakes (Miller’s, especially) are washed away by the new beginning. All are healthy at the moment.
Just four years ago — the last time the league held a draft with much anticipation for this kind of influx of potential game-changing talent — absolutely no one could have predicted what would happen. the coming or how it comes for Zion and Ja.
It’s up to you what else happens to the two.
