The Portland Trail Blazers were just one ping-pong ball away from winning the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes in 2023. Instead, they wound up landing the No. 3 overall pick. At the time, that still appeared to be a prime draft position. It was widely viewed as being inside the second-tier, with Brandon Miller and Scoot Henderson as the 2a and 2b prospects.
The idea was that Portland would take whoever was remaining after the Charlotte Hornets' selection, still coming away with a consolation prize intriguing enough to be considered a building block. In retrospect, the draft debate should've been between Brandon Miller and Amen Thompson, not Scoot Henderson.