New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson recently purchased the New Orleans Hornets and now Benson has received his first gift from the NBA, the winning spot in the NBA draft lottery, a win that will almost certainly result in a No. 1 pick for Kentucky star Anthony Davis.
Davis led the Kentucky Wildcats to a national championship at the national championship in New Orleans in April and now the consensus college player of the year says he is excited to have the opportunity to play for the Hornets.
New Orleans needed some good news following a season in which they traded All-star Chris Paul and were stuck with a stagnant roster as the NBA looked to sell the team to an outside buyer. The league had purchased the Hornets from owner George Shinn in December 2010 and completed the sale of the team to Benson in April. The NBA sold the New Orleans Hornets after cries of conflict of interest were voiced by team owners, players and outside forces.
Following the lottery win Benson said in a TV interview:
“Just a first step for us to winning it all.”
Opening up about the lottery win Hornets coach Monty Williams said:
“Everything was surreal once they announced the fourth pick. I said, ‘This is pretty cool.’ I knew my wife and kids were home praying that things would go well and they did.”
In second place was the 7-59 Charlotte Bobcats (worst winning percentage in NBA history), followed by a third pick Washington and fourth pick Cleveland.
Charlotte will likely take Davis’ former Kentucky Wildcats teammate Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.
The last time the New Orleans Hornets won the NBA draft lottery was in 2001 when they took Larry Johnson.
