New Orleans — A 6% chance was all the Pelicans needed to land the overall number one pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. Tuesdays’s NBA Draft Lottery started with the 14th pick and counted down all the way down to the final 4 teams, where the Pelicans, Lakers, Grizzlies and Knicks were all left on the board. From there, the Lakers were called with the 4th pick, then the Knicks with the 3rd pick and Grizzlies with the 2nd pick, leaving the New Orleans Pelicans as the big winners to have their choice of all the NBA Draft prospects to add to their roster. Here is a look at the 2019 NBA Draft order:
With Duke’s Zion Williamson at the top of everyone’s draft board, it seems the 6′ 7″ forward is headed to the Crescent City, but new Pelicans Executive VP of Basketball Operations David Griffin stopped-short of saying that’s who they’ll select with that top pick. Right after it was announced and Griffin was asked about Williamson he only said: “We have a lot of work to do. This is a great start.”
The only other first overall pick the Pelicans have had was in 2012, when they selected Anthony Davis. Their last first round pick was in 2016, when they selected Buddy Hield 6th overall.
The NBA Draft is Thursday, June 20th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.