If They Could, Who Should the NBA Rig the Draft Lottery For?

We’re amid the NBA playoffs, but one of the most anticipated NBA Draft Lottery drawings is quickly approaching. Victor Wembanyama, the 7’3″ Frenchman, widely considered the best prospect since LeBron James, is the ultimate prize. A unique prospect, Wembanyama is a terrorizing defender in the lane with shot-altering abilities. He operates like Kevin Durant with his smooth release and shot-making on the offensive end. 

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the franchise that drafts Wembanyama could add $500 million to its financial valuation. While the NBA league office will speak of competitive integrity, they’d probably prefer to handpick a spot for Wembanyama to land.

LeBron to the Cavs and Derrick Rose to the Bulls come to mind as draft lottery successes, so here are the spots the league should want to rig the Wembanyama sweepstakes for.

The Rockets are a lottery team where the league should want Wembanyana to land. They are tied with the Detroit Pistons and San Antonio Spurs for the best draft lottery odds. The NBA probably views the Pistons as undesirable, and San Antonio will lose its luster when Gregg Popovich retires. Pairing Wembanyama with the promising core of Jalen Green, Jabari Smith Jr., and Kevin Porter Jr. would give them one of the NBA’s best young teams. Houston would become a magnet for free agents, and Jaylen Brown is reportedly already on its radar. James Harden is also mulling a return via free agency this offseason, making a Wembanyama insertion the formula for a quick return to contention.

Washington, DC’s market hasn’t been relevant since Michael Jordan’s farewell tour. Yes, the John Wall era had high points, but that team wasn’t anything special. For the NBA, capturing the DC market is something they’ve been unable to do in the post-Bullets era. Washington’s franchise being irrelevant leaves a lot of untapped potential from a bottom-line standpoint, considering the Commanders just sold for $6.05 billion. Getting Wembanyama in the nation’s capital would redefine the franchise and be the vehicle to elevate Washington’s basketball identity.

Wembanyama and Luka, what else needs to be explained? The Kyrie experiment failed miserably, and the Mavericks have clearly recognized their misstep, tanking at the end of the season. The tank assured them a chance at Wembanyama since their first-round pick would be sent to the Knicks if it fell outside the top ten. The league punished them, but it was a small price to pay for a shot at a franchise-defining star. A lottery win for the Mavs would be controversial, but Luka paired with Wembanyama would be excellent for the league.

The Bulls have a 1.7% chance of winning the lottery but had the same 1.7% chance of landing Derrick Rose in 2009, and that worked out. Let’s be frank, this version of the Chicago Bulls is a waste. A core of Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan isn’t good enough to compete with the likes of Milwaukee, Boston, or Philadelphia, and probably not even the rising Cavaliers or Knicks. Winning the lottery would insert a franchise game changer and completely change the next decade of Bulls’ basketball. After all, they are the Chicago Bulls, and Adam Silver knows that the league is better when the Bulls are successful.