SI:AM | What Chaos Will the NBA Draft Bring?

Plus, the USWNT reveals its roster for the World Cup.

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I’m very excited for Victor Wembanyama to finally become an NBA player.

In today’s SI:AM:

🇺🇸 USWNT World Cup roster

🤔 The NFL equivalent of Wemby and Pop

👑 MLB’s under-the-radar disaster

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The drama starts with the fourth pick

Victor Wembanyama will be the first pick in the NBA draft tonight. That’s been clear for over a year. The French big man (he’s either 7'3" or 7'4", depending on the source) is a once-in-a-generation player who’s been called—not unfairly, it would seem—the best draft prospect since LeBron James. If the Spurs don’t take him at No. 1, I’ll print out tomorrow’s newsletter and hand-deliver it to every subscriber.

The next two picks also appear to be locked, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t plenty of intrigue surrounding tonight’s draft.

The Hornets have the second pick and are reportedly leaning toward Alabama’s Brandon Miller. At 6'9", he has impressive size for a wing player and is a versatile scorer. Miller’s role in the January killing of Jamea Jonae Harris (he delivered then teammate Darius Miles’s gun to the scene of the crime) has apparently not impacted his draft stock at all.

There’s considerable debate regarding the identity of the second-best player in the draft. Some believe it’s Miller; others believe it’s Scoot Henderson, the athletic 6'2" point guard who played last season for G League Ignite. The Blazers have the third pick, and would be fortunate to land the sort of player who would go No. 1 any other year at No. 3. The complication for Portland is that Henderson plays the same position as Damian Lillard. While Lillard had been rumored to be on the trading block, the Blazers are reportedly no longer entertaining offers for him. Lillard and Henderson “have been communicating regularly,” reports Andscape’s Marc J. Spears.

Although it doesn’t appear Lillard will be on the move, draft night could see plenty of action in the trade market. The Celtics, Wizards and Grizzlies got things started last night with a trade to send Marcus Smart to Memphis and Kristaps Porziņģis to Boston. One team expected to make a deal tonight is the Lakers, who are increasingly likely to trade away the No. 17 pick, as reported by The Athletic’s Jovan Buha. Los Angeles could package the pick, Malik Beasely and Mo Bamba in a trade for “a starter-level player,” Buha reports, mentioning the Pacers’ Myles Turner and Buddy Hield, the Nets’ Dorian Finney-Smith and Royce O’Neale, and the Raptors’ Gary Trent Jr. as possible targets.

What the Lakers do with their pick is only one of several big question marks heading into the draft. While the top three picks appear virtually locked, the draft order gets murky from there. Other top prospects include Overtime Elite guard Amen Thompson, Villanova wing Cam Whitmore and Houston forward Jarace Walker.

Also keep an eye on Bilal Coulibaly, Wembanyama’s teammate with French club Metropolitans 92. He impressed scouts with his offensive play in the postseason and shot up from No. 31 to No. 14 on Kevin Sweeney’s big board. Duke’s Dereck Lively II is another guy whose stock is rising. The 7'1" center showed off an impressive three-point stroke at his pro day in Los Angeles, Sweeney writes, which boosted his standing among NBA decision-makers after a lackluster college season. He’s expected to go somewhere in the middle of the first round. Speaking of shooting, UConn’s Jordan Hawkins is another name to watch tonight. Sweeney ranks him as the No. 1 shooter in this draft and No. 12 prospect overall. Whoever takes him will get an immediate contributor on the perimeter.

The best of Sports Illustrated

Tim Fuller/USA TODAY Sports

• With Victor Wembanyama set to join one of the best coaches in NBA history, Conor Orr imagined what the NFL equivalent of that would be.
• The Falcons are the next team up in our 32 teams in 32 days NFL series, with Matt Verderame explaining how an easy schedule could help end Atlanta’s skid.
• While the A’s have drawn the bulk of the attention, Tom Verducci doesn’t want you to ignore how bad the Royals have been.
• The USWNT released its World Cup roster yesterday, and Clare Brennan has a list of the biggest surprises from the announcement.
• Derek Jeter will make his television debut for Fox on Saturday for the Cubs-Cardinals series in London.
• A 21-year-old TikTok creator is eligible to be selected in the NBA draft tonight after he went through the league’s application process.

The top five...

… things I saw last night:

5. Shohei Ohtani’s hilariously dramatic catch on a throw back from the catcher.

4. Ohtani’s 100-mph fastball for his 11th strikeout of the night. He pitched 12 K’s in seven innings of work and allowed just one run, but the Angels lost to the Dodgers, 2–0.

3. Florida outfielder Michael Robertson’s game-ending catch in an elimination game against TCU.

2. Josh Naylor’s reaction to his brother Bo’s first MLB hit.

1. José Martínez’s long-range volley for the Philadelphia Union. 

SIQ

On this day in 1978, which future World Series winner married his wife in a ceremony at home plate of a minor league stadium? (Hint: The wedding made him the stepfather to his nephew, also a future major leaguer.)

• Mookie Wilson
• Bruce Sutter
• Chris Gwynn
• Sal Butera

Yesterday’s SIQ: June 21, 1986, Bo Jackson announced his decision to sign an MLB contract with the Royals, surprisingly spurning which NFL team that had taken him with the No. 1 pick in the draft?

• Buccaneers
• Raiders
• Rams
• Seahawks

Answer: Buccaneers. Jackson was the obvious choice for the top pick in the 1986 NFL draft after winning the 1985 Heisman. But he was also a promising baseball prospect. The Royals took him in the fourth round of the MLB draft that year, but still, Jackson was expected to choose football—the sport where his talent was undeniable and the payday was bigger.

At a press conference on June 21, though, Jackson made the shocking announcement that he would turn down the NFL and sign with the Royals. The reason? A feud with the Bucs over a visit with the team that ended up costing him his remaining NCAA baseball eligibility. Here’s how Douglas S. Looney explained it in a Sports Illustrated story shortly after Jackson’s minor league debut.

According to Auburn baseball coach Hal Baird, Bo was especially miffed that he lost his remaining college baseball eligibility last season when Tampa Bay flew him to Florida on March 25 for a physical. The flight was in violation of SEC rules. Phil Krueger, a Bucs executive, insists that the team checked with the conference to make sure it was O.K. Further, he says it was Jackson who requested that a private plane be sent for him, and it was sent. Whatever the facts, Jackson has said he thinks the Bucs devised some convoluted scheme to drag him away from baseball.

Jackson’s pro baseball career got off to a rocky start. Looney wrote that he “looked pitiful” striking out in five of his first 11 plate appearances at Double A. But Jackson turned it around and earned a September call-up to the majors after just 53 games in the minors.

Turning down the Bucs didn’t delay Jackson’s NFL career by much. He was selected by the Raiders in the seventh round of the 1987 draft, signed with them and made his debut in November after the Royals’ season.