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It’s official! Zion Williamson is the No 1 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft.
“I dreamed about this since I was four,” Williamson said on Thursday as he was picked by the New Orleans Pelicans.
The Pelicans selected the Duke power forward with the top selection, finalising a decision considered a foregone conclusion since the draft lottery last month.
The 6ft 7in, 285lbs Williamson wore a cream-coloured suit jacket and sat with family members as he heard his name called at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.
“I don’t know what to say,” Williamson said, breaking down into tears in an interview with ESPN immediately following the pick. “I didn’t think I’d be in this position. My mom sacrificed a lot for me. I wouldn’t be here without her.
“She put her dreams aside for mine. She always looked out for the family first before herself.”
Williamson, the college basketball player of the year, dominated in his only season at the collegiate level. He averaged 22.6 points, 8.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game while making 33 starts. He added 2.1 steals and 1.8 blocks per game with an elite combination of size and athleticism.
The Spartanburg, South Carolina, native immediately will become the face of the Pelicans’ franchise. New Orleans went 33-49 last season and recently agreed to a blockbuster deal to send center Anthony Davis to the Los Angeles Lakers for a package of players and picks.
“I’m going to do anything to win. I’m just going to do anything to win,” Williamson said.
The Memphis Grizzlies also quickly addressed a positional need by taking Murray State’s Ja Morant with the No 2 pick. The Grizzlies agreed to trade Mike Conley, their longtime point guard, to Utah a day earlier.
They got a good replacement in Morant, who led Division I with 10 assists per game as a sophomore while averaging 24.5 points.
3:03 “I have some big shoes to fill in Mike Conley,” Morant said. “He’s a great player. I wish him the best. Like I said before, it just means the Grizzlies see a lot in me.”
RJ Barrett then made it two Duke freshmen within the top-three picks when the New York Knicks took the guard who actually edged out Williamson to lead the Atlantic Coast Conference in scoring.
2:53 Knicks fans hoped they would get Williamson after finishing with the worst record in the league but seemed happy to end up with Barrett, loudly cheering and chanting “RJ! RJ!” when the pick was announced.
“That was great,” Barrett said. “I’m glad that the city wants me here as much as I want to be here.”
De’Andre Hunter of national champions Virginia was taken fourth but won’t be teaming up with Williamson. The Pelicans acquired the rights to the pick in the Davis deal but agreed to trade it shortly before the draft to Atlanta. The original trade can’t be official until July 6, so Hunter was outfitted with a Lakers hit and the draft board behind the stage listed the pick as belonging to the Lakers.
The Cleveland Cavaliers then took Vanderbilt guard Darius Garland, who played in just five games because of a knee injury.
Then it was another pick who won’t be playing for the team that made it, with Jarrett Culver taken at No 6 by Phoenix with a pick that the Suns agreed to trade to Minnesota for the No 11 pick.
That turned out to be Cameron Johnson, the second North Carolina player to be drafted after Chicago took Coby White at No 7.
Kentucky then had two straight picks, with PJ Washington going 12th to Charlotte and Tyler Herro 13th to Miami.
Duke did even better by placing three in the top 10. Cam Reddish went 10th to the Hawks, making the Blue Devils the only team to pull off that feat since Florida placed Al Horford third, Corey Brewer seventh and Joakim Noah ninth after winning the 2007 national championship.
The trades caused some confusion in Barclays Center beyond just players wearing hats of teams whose uniforms they won’t wear. A brief “Brooklyn! Brooklyn!” chant broke out when the Nets were on the clock at No 17, but the Nets had already agreed to deal that pick to Atlanta in yet another trade that won’t become official until July 6.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Brandon Clarke and Mfiondu Kabengele followed Barrett into the NBA, giving Canada its best showing with four first-round picks. The overall record for draft picks from outside the U.S. was set when France had five players selected in 2016.
