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Introducing the 2019 NBA Draft Lottery’s Lucky Charms

The lottery is all luck. Here’s who should represent the NBA teams involved.

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Published May 14, 2019

The year was 1985. David Stern was approaching his second year as the league’s newest commissioner. The NBA decided to try a new process of determining who would land the No. 1 overall pick of the NBA draft. In an attempt to end the trend of teams purposely tanking to be awarded the first overall pick based off of their regular season record, the NBA decided to use the random lottery ball drawing. The inaugural winner of the drawing was the New York Knicks, who as a result drafted one of the league’s greatest centers of all time, Patrick Ewing from Georgetown University.

Fast-forward to 2019 and it looks like the Knicks are attempting to use any sort of good-luck charm to land the No. 1 overall pick of this year’s NBA draft. They even reached out to Ewing—now the head coach at Georgetown—to represent the team during this year’s draft lottery. Ewing agreed to do it, which is fortunate; even though the Knicks finished the regular season with the worst record of the league, they’re still not a shoe-in for getting the first overall pick.

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In the league’s effort to end the latest trend of tanking, the three worst teams are made the odds-on favorites for becoming the first overall pick of the 2019 NBA draft.

This makes the hoops guru in us curious to know who and what teams should be represented in the announcement of the 2019 NBA draft pick order. As we are just hours away from finding out who will get the chance to choose Zion Williamson with the first overall pick, here’s our NBA draft lottery suggestion box of who should represent what teams to help them get some good luck on their side when Adam Silver announces the draft order.

Phoenix Suns: Steve Nash

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What cooler way to land the No. 1 pick than by using your franchise’s greatest point guard ever as a representation of the era that could be arriving in Phoenix? Steve Nash made Phoenix one of the league’s hottest tickets due to the Mike D’Antoni fast-paced, up-tempo offensive attack he facilitated on the court between Joe Johnson and Amar’e Stoudemire. Today, with Devin Booker and DeAndre Ayton on the team, the new-era Suns are just one versatile player away from reliving those glory days, and Nash being the face of the Suns in the hopes of winning the opportunity to land Zion would be a dream 360 all Suns fans are praying for.

The West should get nervous if the No. 1 lottery ball falls into Phoenix’s hands, as the Suns are in a great position to form Generation Z’s first Big Three.

Cleveland Cavaliers: Odell Beckham Jr.

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With LeBron James starting a new era in L.A., Cleveland is searching for a new superstar to carry their winning ways into the future. Luckily, they were able to land football’s biggest star, who could be the most important figure to ever put on a Cleveland sports jersey since the King. Introducing wide receiver of the Cleveland Browns, Odell Beckham Jr.

As the face of the new-and-improved Browns, OBJ’s superstar charm can carry over to the hardwood floor as Cleveland desperately needs a new emperor of hoops if the city wants to do more than just live up to its nickname as the rock ’n’ roll capital of the world and bring a championship back to the 216. Odell is poised to do that on the gridiron, so it’s only right they should let him try his luck on the draft lottery side of things.

New York Knicks: Walt “Clyde” Frazier

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Even though the Knicks found their man in Pat Ewing, we wonder who might have been next in line. Maybe the Knicks need two good-luck charms? Some might consider John Starks or maybe Larry Johnson. Or perhaps Charles Oakley, the perfect example of vintage Knicks basketball at its best. But the man who lives, breathes and can bring some good-luck hoops karma and winning ways back to the mecca of basketball is none other than Walt “Clyde” Frazier.

It makes perfect sense. Frazier is a hoops god to die-hard Knicks fans—after all, he got them their last championship way back in 1973. Known for not being afraid to let his creativeness be seen on and off the court (he is hands down one of the most visible commentators the NBA has ever had, due to this wardrobe and vocabulary), Frazier can bring hope and excitement to the Big Apple like it’s 1967 and he’s just been drafted to the team fresh off winning the NIT title at Southern Illinois.

What better way to bring hope to a city that has been let down for years than by unleashing their greatest point guard ever? With the possibility of landing big-time potential free agents such as Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, the Knicks can hit the trifecta if they land the pick that can possibly change basketball for many years to come.

It looks like Gotham City can start getting ready to plan a huge championship party like it’s 1973.

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