Knicks Rumors: Zion Williamson ‘was rooting’ for draft lottery win

The New York Knicks did not win the 2019 NBA Draft Lottery, but fans were not the only ones disappointed with the results.

A new-look draft lottery format pushed the New York Knicks from their spot atop the board. They not only fell to third overall, but likely lost their chance to select Duke’s Zion Williamson, the perceived star of this class.

While the Knicks had their supporters on Tuesday night, it seems someone else was in their corner, too.

Per ESPN’s Marc J. Spears, Williamson was “rooting” to go to the Knicks, and was “quickly” — as Spears emphasized — “whisked out of the room” when the New Orleans Pelicans were announced as the lottery’s winner.

Williamson, not naive to the assumptions and speculation of the past few months, will now join the Pelicans, who have their own fluctuant situation. He might play alongside Anthony Davis, but the superstar big man’s future with the franchise remains unknown, so this may be “Zion’s team,” whether or not he wants it.

Midseason comments alluded to Williamson’s affection for the Knicks when he played a regular season game for the Blue Devils at Madison Square Garden. The reality seemed possible at the time, and the 18 year old acted excited at the prospect of playing in Manhattan.

There was an alternate timeline of Williamson potentially playing with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in the 2019-20 NBA season. The latter two have been linked to the Knicks since the preseason, and this trio together had the chance to form an elite unit for the next five years.

Not everything works out as planned, though. The NBA scrambled the lottery odds this year for a reason, to circumvent tanking and make teams want to win. Sure, they can still encounter rebuilding processes, but the high odds leading to a high pick is no longer guaranteed. Look at the Phoenix Suns, who slipped from second to sixth in the lottery.

Williamson will become a Pelican. It’s a franchise with a long road ahead to garner talent and reach the postseason in a crowded Western Conference. The odds are higher if Davis stays, but that seems uncertain, as of May 15.

The New York Knicks can turn the attention to their own pick, No. 3. There are four weeks to decide who becomes the guy. It is not Williamson, but whoever this player is may join a revamped roster that has playoff aspirations.