CHICAGO — The first three balls to emerge from the Smartplay lottery machine, a unique glass contraption designed solely for the annual NBA Draft Lottery, read 14, 5 and 8. There are 14 balls submitted into the device — the same tally of representatives from teams that failed to make the postseason, who watched those tiny, white spheres rattle around the clear basin with bated breath. Each May, the final, fourth pingpong ball to emerge from the apparatus is what truly declares the winner of the No. 1 pick in June’s draft.
On Tuesday evening, two stories below and one hour before the televised ESPN broadcast from a gigantic ballroom at McCormick Place, that last ball rose to the surface and revealed the destination for Victor Wembanyama, the 7-foot-4 French phenom whom NBA personnel are widely convinced is the greatest prospect to enter the league since LeBron James, a talent capable of uplifting a franchise for two decades.