The NBA’s draft lottery will be held Tuesday night. In honor of the event, we’ll take a look back at one of the luckiest lottery teams of all-time, the Orlando Magic.
The Magic have won the NBA’s draft lottery three times, each time led by their own personal lucky charm, Pat Williams, who is currently Orlando’s Senior Vice President.
More importantly for the Magic, each time they had the number one pick, they made an excellent decision.
In 1992, the Magic won the lottery and drafted Shaquille O’Neal. In this case, there was no decision. Drafting Shaq was a no-brainer.
Luck was really on Orlando’s side in 1993. They finished 41-41 and had the least likely chance to win the lottery (a 1.52% chance), yet still managed to land the #1 pick. The Magic selected Michigan Power Forward Chris Webber with the pick and sent him to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for the third overall pick, Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway and three future first round picks.
In 2004, the Magic had a 25% chance of landing the number one pick. They won the lottery and selected Center Dwight Howard over Connecticut big man Emeka Okafor. Okafor was named Rookie of the Year but Howard has turned into a perennial All-Pro.
(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger, a contributor on the Fansided Front Page and on Sir Charles In Charge. Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily. You can download the HTD app here
Tags: chris webber, draft lottery, Dwight Howard, emeka okafor, Orlando Magic, pat williams, penny hardaway, shaquille o'neal
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