Shortly after New Orleans general manager Dell Demps handed off the souvenir ping pong balls that made the Hornets the big prize winner for Kentucky’s Anthony Davis in the NBA Draft Lottery, he was approached by Brooklyn Nets counterpart Billy King.
“So, you want to trade the pick?” King said with a smile that caused Demps to break out laughing.
“Hey, you never know unless you ask,” King added with a huge smile.
No, this is a pick the Hornets covet after not good but grand fortune moved them from No. 4 in the expected order and sent them to the top, dropping Charlotte to No. 2 despite the Bobcats’ woeful 7-59 season. The first 10 picks, starting with No. 14, held form, including No. 6, the Nets, which goes to Portland for the Gerald Wallace deal. The Hornets also have the 10th pick from a previous trade.
“When it got to five I was sitting there thinking, ‘Man, it could happen,’ ” said Hornets coach Monty Williams, who represented New Orleans on stage. “When it got to four, Cleveland [projected No. 3] came up and everything was surreal after that.”
Surreal and possibly franchise changing.
“I stood up and a couple guys said ‘Congratulations.’ I could hear some guys saying some things, I could hear some groans behind me,” Williams added. “All I could think about was, ‘I know my wife and kids are at home praying in front of the TV for everything to go well.’ And for everything to go as well as it did, I felt so blessed to be in this position. But to get the No. 1 pick, this is really cool.”
Perhaps one of those groaning behind Williams was Bobcats general manager Rich Cho, who saw the chance to get the 6-foot-10 game-changing Davis via the lottery evaporate.
“The last time we picked No. 2, we got [Kevin] Durant when I was with Seattle,” Cho said. “The competitor in you wants the No. 1 pick. But with No. 2, we’re going to get a special player.”