Recapping All The Madness That Was The 2018 NBA Draft

The 2018 NBA Draft started off with the worst kept secret in the basketball world, with the Phoenix Suns selecting Arizona big man, Deandre Ayton with the #1 overall selection. The intrigue about the rest of the night started right after that. There were numerous trades that caught people by surprise, Adrian Wojnarowski stealing the show with his tweets and of course there were plenty of young men who had their lives change in the blink of an eye. Let’s recap the highlights of the night.

The Sacramento Kings selected Marvin Bagley III with the second pick of the draft but right up until the few moments before the draft started, that pick was up in the air. The first trade of the night involved two of the top five picks when the Atlanta Hawks selected Luka Doncic at #3 and agreed to trade him to the Dallas Mavericks for #5 pick, Trae Young. Because of that trade, that allowed Mo Bamba to slide down to the #6 spot for the Orlando Magic, who were more than happy to get their hands on the young and gifted big man from Harlem. That came after the Memphis Grizzlies finally got their man in Jaren Jackson Jr, after it seemed at one point that nobody wanted to be drafted by Memphis. The Cavaliers selected speedy point guard, Colin Sexton, with hopes he can be a piece Lebron James is happy with if he winds up staying in the Land.

The drama continued into the night when the Knicks came up on the board and decided to select Kevin Knox from Kentucky, rather than go with the crowd favorite, Michael Porter Jr, who was still available. Most Knicks fans wanted Porter and were surprised he was even still there at the #9 pick but many other teams passed on Porter as well, leading many people to believe his medical paperwork was raising more red flags than anticipated. Knicks fans as you might expect, were not happy with the pick but that’s mainly because most of them aren’t educated enough about just how good Knox can be. Porter was eventually selected by the Denver Nuggets with the #14 pick and they admitted they plan to take things very slowly with him.

A move that caught fans and media alike off guard was the Sixers trading Mikal Bridges, who they selected with the #10 pick, to the Phoenix Suns for #16 pick, Zhaire Smith. It’s not that Smith won’t be a good fit in Philadelphia, it was more the fact that the Sixers had been focused on Bridges for a while with him being from the area and possibly being available when it was their pick, his mother working for the team and him seemingly being the exact player they wanted.

There were many other notable moves of the first round, such as Donte DiVincenzo going #17 to the Bucks. He used a tremendous Final Four with Villanova, as well as a strong pre draft combine to greatly improve his stock. Back in March he was considered a second round pick at best. The Utah Jazz selected Grayson Allen with the #21 pick, which hilariously didn’t surprise anyone. The Holiday family showed how amazing their genes are when Aaron Holiday was selected by the Pacers at pick #23, which now means the Holiday family has three siblings in the NBA with his older brothers Jrue and Justin. The Lakers made a splash at the #25 spot, selecting Mo Wagner out of Michigan. Check below for the full first round results.

One big piece of news that did not happen last night was the Spurs still holding on to Kawhi Leonard. There were many rumors and reports that he could be on the move during the draft but at least for now, the Spurs still have their franchise player, although it likely won’t be for much longer.

The star of the night wasn’t any of the players. Nope, that title was reserved for Adrian Wojnarowski, who was dropping Woj bombs using very creative lingo as to not upset his ESPN bosses about tweeting out picks early. ESPN, Yahoo and other companies all agreed to have their employees not spoil the draft announcements but as other writers and analyst ignored their bosses wishes, Woj went into thesaurus mode and stole the show.

All in all it was a great night for the league. Sixty young men had their lives changed when they heard their name called and while it’s likely some of the picks won’t work out, nobody is thinking about that on draft night. It was a very fast moving, entertaining event that had everything you could hope for going into it. Credit to the NBA and everyone involved for putting on a good show.

Written by @IamJoeSports