This is the online version of our daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. Here’s Mike Sykes.
On Tuesday night I watched my Washington Wizards get the 8th overall pick in the NBA Draft.
Related: A mock draft of all 58 picks in the 2023 NBA Draft
To be completely honest with you, I didn’t have much hope for any more than that. Truthfully, I was just happy the team didn’t fall down the ladder any further than it already was. That was a win alone. It was something to be happy about.
Until I learned that the team was only one ping-pong ball away from glory.
The Washington Wizards were just one ping-pong ball away from drafting Victor Wembanyama. JUST ONE PING-PONG BALL.
That’s one ping-pong ball away from potentially breaking every drought this team has. The conference finals drought. The NBA Finals drought. All of it. This team was just one ping-pong ball away, according to The Washington Post’s Ben Golliver.
The Wizards had a better-than-50 percent chance of drafting big Vic.
“If the final number selected was 7, 9, 10, 11, 12 or 13 the Wizards would get the chance to select the 19-year-old Wembanyama in the June 22 draft. In that brief moment before the final ball was selected, Washington’s shot at getting the top selection had skyrocketed from 6.7 percent to 54.5 percent. Better than a coin flip.”
Better than a coin flip. Man. I don’t even know what to say.
This is the sort of thing that happens to teams every year. Someone always almost wins the lottery. That’s just the nature of the beast, of course. Actually, the same thing happened to the Trail Blazers, too — maybe even a little worse.
But for that to happen to my team? In this draft? Nah, man. This ain’t right. It just isn’t. Don’t talk to me about basketball karma or the Basketball Gods. They’ve done nothing but curse this team.
All these years, man. The Wizards have toiled around in the muck. Not necessarily trying to build out a stout contender, but also not tanking and losing on purpose. You’d think that, at some point, someone would look down and say “Alright, y’all deserve this,” and all of us 18 Wizards fans left would finally see a light at the end of the tunnel.
But nope. The reality is this — we’re Wizards fans. No one is coming to save us. And the team certainly won’t save itself.
So, basically, see you again right back here next year.
Quick Hits: The WNBA needs more roster spots … MLB needs to do right by A’s fans … and more.
— Too many solid players within the WNBA are left without teams when training camp ends, our Mitchell Northam writes. If we can’t get expansion teams, can we at least get expansion rosters?
— Oakland Athletics fans are boycotting the team, our Andrew Joseph writes, and for good reason. You can’t tell fans you’re leaving and expect them to still show up and support you. Good riddance.
— ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski is probably hyping Victor Wembanyama a little too much, and that’s saying something because that doesn’t even sound possible.
— Davante Adams seems cool with the Raiders’ GM again, our Robert Zeglinski writes, and it’s all a little confusing.
See you tomorrow!
