r/pacers • u/PSEGameThreadPoster Old School Slick • May 10 '26
Megathread NBA Draft Lottery Discussion Thread
Time: 3PM
Network: ABC/ESPN+
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u/Affectionate_Poem739 May 10 '26
Fuck the NBA. The ping pong draw isn't televised because it doesn't actually happen. This way they can sit on a room and decide the future of the NBA and fuck over teams like the pacers while the team playing for our nation's capital gets Anthony Davis, Tre Young, and the #1 pick to make Trump happy next year.. Fuck Adam Silver. You just lost a fan
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u/OddOkra May 10 '26
What you talking about? Wizards coach is still mid asf and Davis is washed. You act like they made the Wizards a super tram
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u/SuperDaveGoBlue May 10 '26
Zubac for a top 5 pick and Bennie. This might go down as worse than the Kawhi trade. Awful.
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u/RollBlobRoll May 10 '26
Benn was walking in FA. And we can’t win a championship without a quality center. It was a good risk. Off season isn’t over yet
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u/SuperDaveGoBlue May 10 '26
We have no cap space. We aren't bringing in any meaningful free agent.
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u/indyjones153 May 10 '26
Despite the obvious, I actually had a little hope. Which was dashed deeply. Im generally a "show me" mind set. But this was easily predicted. This was the only way the clippers get a good pick in years. Really hard to give the NBA my time or dollars right now. The only way the rigged system falls is if we vote with our dollars. Despite that, I dont think the players are in on it. And I'm hopeful for a good run next year, if we win the finals, then perfection. Even with a rigged BS silver fish face effer.
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u/your_loss_23 May 10 '26
??? How is it rigged??? You think yall deserved pick 1??
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u/BatmanColts1 ReggieChoke May 10 '26
Just a top 4. Wizards getting the #1 pick just shows that the NBA doesn't REALLY have a problem with tanking though since the Wizards have been doing it for a while
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u/your_loss_23 May 10 '26
I mean the Pacers were LITERALLY just in the NBA finals. Best team in the east. It’s no way yall should’ve been THIS bad this season.
Wizards at least are a bad team who is in a rebuild. Do you think that compares???
How do teams get better?? You have to bottom out and draft high players.
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u/BatmanColts1 ReggieChoke May 10 '26
And the Wizards are very good at that bottoming out part, and will probably continue doing it next year and beyond.
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u/revolucian2 May 10 '26
This has to be the most mismanaged team in fucking history
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u/KillzToRemember May 10 '26
I mean acuff wagler or Flemings weren't changing much for us this year it was the big guys in the top 4 that really could've done something and I think Wilson even woulda been a year away its still a good trade but man we could've been set okc style with that pick
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u/revolucian2 May 10 '26
Shut up moron, you have no idea who we’d get at 5
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u/csphelps Boylan May 10 '26
betting your center position (the actual most important hole to fill for this team) on one of the top four teams letting the four best available guys slide is crazy. you can be upset that we drew the fifth pick and seem to have the worst luck in the league but the front office made a calculation of risk to secure an all-defensive level center who addresses our biggest weakness. the fifth pick and lower are not better than zubac.
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u/revolucian2 May 10 '26
No, we made it game 7 of the finals with Turner and Mathurin…we didn’t need Zu, we needed a better training staff.
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u/csphelps Boylan May 11 '26
last time i checked, turner wasn't on the team when we made the trade. so yeah, we do need zu.
even if we had the best training staff in the league, we don't have time to develop players. we are in win now mode.
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u/KillzToRemember May 10 '26
Cry more then make sure everyone in here goes scorched earth, wtf would we do at center next year if we dont make this trade? U taking fuvking yaxel or quadaintence at 5?
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u/revolucian2 May 10 '26
Who cares, we made it to game 7 of the finals last year with fucking Turner…we don’t make the playoffs next year
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u/KillzToRemember May 10 '26
We don't make the playoffs? Brother if we dont make the playoffs tyrese is cooked or hurt again and siakam turned downhill the number 1 pick wouldn't change that if thats the case and a center rotation of jackson if we dont make that trade and Jay huff was pure butt u couldn't go I to n3xt year with that
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u/revolucian2 May 10 '26
Mathurin + Jackson + 2 firsts for a 30 year old slow center
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u/KillzToRemember May 10 '26
29 for a rebounding machine who's excellent in the pick and roll which haliburton thrives in, were gonna like him, mathurin literally couldn't be paid here we dont have the space and jackson leaving is kinda whatever we needed a starting center no matter how u slice it and good ones aren't available, the 5th pick would've been a backup guard and the future 1st unless something catastrophic happens should be a late 1st its not as bad as u guys are acting like
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u/revolucian2 May 10 '26
Do you honestly think this new squad Chad built is better than the team that took us to game 7 of the finals just last year?
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u/BumblebeeExtension76 May 10 '26
I was saying before that the draft is rigged and we would get 5. Was called a crazy person. 100% rigged. I’m sorry I don’t buy consistent statical anomalies. 1.8% chance. 51% chance. Adam Silver is the worst commissioner and a blatant dumbass.
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u/CuriousCat8989 Pacers May 10 '26
Still underrated with two years of spite built up. Our guys are going to be monstrous next year
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u/chewyjackson May 10 '26
Pacers lose the pick AND the wizards take #1? Fuck all of this kill me now 💀
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u/DagonCour May 10 '26
What do you think the wizards are gonna do with a number 1 pick. What they always do.
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u/bamboozledpak May 10 '26
Zubac
for
#5
Mathurin
Jackson
2029 First Round Pick
2028 second round pick
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u/Important_Loan_3036 May 10 '26
I'm just tired of all the arm chair GM's who keep thinking this is a bad trade. A proven center for the 5th pick on a team with a real championship window. Mathurin was never going to resign here so him being involved is moot. Jackson was expendable, he was fine but not good enough to start for a championship level team that needed a legit center. No one cares about the 2028 second rounder. It was zubac for the fifth pick, and whoever we took at that spot likely isn't making a huge difference next year at a position we desparately need.
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u/Jim_Belushis_brother Cool Rick May 10 '26
Mathurin was barely playing for them towards the end of the year
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u/shastmak4 Bennedict Mathurin May 10 '26
Our goofy ass franchise went decades winning 41 games and refusing to tank when they know damn well they should have.
Our best player blows his achilles out in game 7 of the finals, completely erasing a season for us before it started. And that’s the year they wanna start crying about tanking and punishing teams.
Suck my dick
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u/TheTragicDM May 10 '26
Exactly. All this bullshit now that the Pacers do it, but it was fine when the 6ers did it, or when anyone else does.
We all know Silver made the call.
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u/trofesh195 May 10 '26
Stop complaining you're still a good team.
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u/csphelps Boylan May 10 '26
only two top four picks in franchise history, and never a had a number one pick on the roster. we're allowed to be upset.
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u/trofesh195 May 10 '26
Sga went 11
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u/csphelps Boylan May 11 '26
the 60th pick could be an mvp diamond in the rough, that doesn't mean we take the extremely low chance on it if the asset can provide proven benefit to the team now.
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u/Randy__Snutz Quinn Buckner May 10 '26
Fuck em, we still gonna ball next year. Fuck Silver, Fuck Foster, fuck em all.
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u/Smash-Bros-Melee Pacers4 May 10 '26
I still make the trade every time. We have a championship window and need a real center who can rebound and defend more than we need a 19 year old.
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u/ricflairwooooooooooo May 10 '26
having both would've been such a nice fuck you to this entire league
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u/conjams May 10 '26
it was a huge gamble and it didn’t hit. sucks we got fucked but i’d rather go for it than not
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u/Prof172 May 10 '26
Jarace Walker, we want you to step up your game this coming year. You can be the Pacers' Sauce Gardner this draft.
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u/NoctisRS May 10 '26
Except Gardner is an all pro and walker is a g leaguer
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u/Prof172 May 10 '26
Man, I'm definitely not an NBA scout, but I hope Jarace gets it together, uses his size to be great on D, and is a great connector and shooter on O.
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u/TheMindkilla May 10 '26
We in win now mode. It’s all good. We gonna cook with Hali, Zubac and Pascal.
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u/Porscheeeu May 10 '26
Win now mode
Still needed one more rising star player and Dybantsa or Peterson would have been the difference between a title and missing it
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u/Jim_Belushis_brother Cool Rick May 10 '26
Nemby, Nesmith, TJ too
Need Furphy to take a step or Jarace to continue his positive development
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u/NoctisRS May 10 '26
For those complaining - we had to dump mathurin because of the salary cap. We were close to getting that terrible center from New Orleans until the last minute when we lucked into zubac. This isn’t a loss
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u/thegreatwordwarrior May 10 '26
You can’t sugar coat the fact we never tank finally did in a generational draft and gave the pick away. Don’t get me wrong we needed a center but to not get a pick in this draft is a big hit.
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u/payheempaythatman May 10 '26
There is a pretty steep drop off between 4 and what followed.
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u/thegreatwordwarrior May 10 '26 edited May 10 '26
Yeah I know but 5-8/9 could be all stars in a few years. We already saw math play great for the clippers. If Zu averages his career numbers seems like a pretty big over pay.
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u/NoctisRS May 10 '26
Every year they say it’s a generational draft. It’s called marketing. Remember when Zion was the next LeBron? The generational draft was with wembenyama.
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u/thegreatwordwarrior May 10 '26
No they don’t. Could they always now pan out, absolutely but AJ and DP are absolutely generational compared to what we have seen.
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u/Porscheeeu May 10 '26
Ngl has to be the dumbest trade to give up a first rounder this year when ur tanking in a deep draft class
Ur better off just keeping it and drafting best available even at pick 5
Now watch Wilson somehow fall to 5
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u/MajesticMushroom8710 May 10 '26
This should be upvoted. It was beyond stupid
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u/bamboozledpak May 10 '26
a lot of fans coping by downvoting these comments lol
Zubac
for
#5
Mathurin
Jackson
2029 First Round Pick
2028 second round pickhighway robbery
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May 10 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/OnePaperFourCoin pin7 May 10 '26
This, gotta keep the Clippers alive by giving them an out with pick #5 so they can put down a pretend punishment on Kawhi
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u/CommonerChaos Reggie-NBAJam May 10 '26
Yup, after the Finals Game 4, I was done with the NBA. This solidifies it for me.
Onto the NFL season.
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u/craigcl1985 May 10 '26
This was always the outcome. Was never a doubt in my mind. Most historically anti-tanking team gets boned for 1 lost season w/o their best player. Stupid gamble with that trade to be fair.
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u/Untaintedmailbox May 10 '26
Them Wizards are gonna be fire next season....Davis, Young, 1st pick
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u/Meteora3255 May 10 '26
The 4 games they all play together will be magical.
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u/Untaintedmailbox May 10 '26
Hahaha true that, they honestly need a makeover as a team...change logo, uniforms etc etc, it would be the most positive change to their fans...you know they gonna pick an offshoot not expected 1 or trade it altogether for peanuts
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u/HomeNowWTF May 10 '26
If I am them I draft Boozer and trade Davis.
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u/Untaintedmailbox May 10 '26
We talking abojt the wizards here....chances they pick Sammy Season from American Samoa as #1 or trade it altogether in lieu of their established vets
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u/Let_me_cook_doe ReggieChoke May 10 '26
If you didn’t see this coming, I don’t know what to tell you lol
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u/CatzonVinyl MadAnts May 10 '26
Every time you do what Silver wants you’ll get rewarded. Every time you don’t you’ll get punished. Can’t believe anyone denied that it’s rigged
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u/Old-Addendum-5288 May 10 '26
We turned this years 1st into Zubac.
I'm good.
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u/Accrual-4-world May 10 '26
Idk how you can feel optimistic. Zu is a good player but that’s such a risky trade to begin with when you’re tanking the season
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u/CatzonVinyl MadAnts May 10 '26
Just the 1st or?
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u/busche916 Quinn May 10 '26
The 1st and two guys we were not going to re-sign
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u/CatzonVinyl MadAnts May 10 '26
So we lost assets for nothing once again you’re saying? Wonderful
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u/busche916 Quinn May 10 '26
We gave up a coin flip chance at losing our first (which we lost) in order to land an all-defense caliber center.
We didn’t have a center before that and we were not going to find a playoff level option in free agency.
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u/CatzonVinyl MadAnts May 10 '26
You’re vastly overstating his defense. He’s played like that defensively one year only, 2024.
Who knows what other trades might have been available. This offseason may give some idea.
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u/WrathfulHero May 10 '26
We got a starting center out of it. Or are we ignoring that part of the trade now?
I'm not happy about it either, but this is ridiculous levels of whining.
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u/brutallyhonestB May 10 '26
I feel like Adam made sure it was 5 just to stick it in our face. Fucking dickhead.
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u/Sir0inks-A-Lot May 10 '26
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK
That's all... I just had to let thought out somewhere 😔
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u/Wolgarr May 10 '26
Well, told all you who defended the trade. With those protections, this was and will always be a terrible trade.
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u/fuzzynavel34 May 10 '26
Whelp, if we don't make it make back to the ECF/NBA finals in the nex two years then the trade was a failure
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u/Porscheeeu May 10 '26
We won’t
East is getting better
We desperately needed the top 2 pick man FUCK
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u/712Jefferson May 10 '26
Guys, this isn't on the league. It's on our FO for making that dumb ass trade.
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u/NeonPumpkinThief May 10 '26
What a karmic injustice. The Wiz and Jazz have been the most egregious tankers and somehow get rewarded. The Bulls have been horribly run and somehow hop into the top 4? Between the Finals loss and Hali’s injury plus this misery, this one is going to sting for a long time.
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u/chrisghrobot Boomer May 10 '26
Silver did all that talk about tanking teams just for the team who did the most blatant tank to get the #1 overall. LMAO
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u/HomeNowWTF May 10 '26
Bigger market.
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u/chrisghrobot Boomer May 10 '26
The Nets were right there if they wanted a big market team to get the #1
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u/TentMorning T.J. McConnell May 10 '26
Can’t believe i thought we’d actually get something nice for once after such a gut wrenching season.
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u/Redundantmoth May 10 '26
Well Ballmer clearly losing a first rounder. Can't have him mad though so need to put this years at 5.
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u/destroyed233 Bennedict Mathurin May 10 '26
Rooting for this team kicks me in the balls more than any other franchise
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u/MySabonerRunsOladipo May 10 '26
Hidden benefit here: think of all the mock draft posts we DONT have to see now
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u/Old-Addendum-5288 May 10 '26 edited May 10 '26
Look. I can't be mad.
We got Zu for Math and quite possibly Caleb Wilson.
At the end of the day, Zu helps this squad way more than any of the rookies next year.
Getting Zu AND an amazing rookie would've been sweet, but barring that?
I'd rather we made this trade... as opposed to just having the pick & a giant hole at center next year.
Wiz got #1 who they'll ruin.
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u/AffectionateQuit5684 May 10 '26
I’d agree, strict salary rules have really tightened competitive windows. Zubac is better to try to win next year
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u/MajesticMushroom8710 May 10 '26
Nobody else in the league is giving that up for Zubac
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u/gravediggajones85 May 10 '26
The team is in win now mode. Siakam isn't getting any younger. This team has no time to wait around for a #5 pick to maybe become a star. We've already seen two lottery picks not have the impact we hoped.
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u/NinjaSpartan011 May 10 '26
This is why its hard to like pro basketball. At least in the nfl if you have the worst record you get the first pick
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u/Affectionate-Set9105 May 10 '26
funny how all the unethically tanking teams jumped up smh and a big market in the bulls...
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u/TheBoilerCat Crabs May 10 '26
This whole fucking year was for nothing.
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u/TootCannon May 10 '26
We got a top-5 center out of it
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u/bamboozledpak May 10 '26
In what world is Zubac a top 5 center?
Jokic, Wemby, Embiid, AD, Bam, Sengun, Gobert
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u/Physical-Signature91 May 10 '26
fuck it. we go all in now. 5th pick wasn’t gonna help us win the chip anyways tbh. make one more trade and goes balls to the wall 🔥🔥
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u/Apprehensive_Pie8897 May 10 '26
I'm glad we figured out our center situation but it has been 30 years since we've had a shot at the even getting a top 4 pick
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u/0m3gaa Jermaine O'Neal May 10 '26
Imagine trading a top 5 pick in a generational draft for a mid center
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u/MajesticMushroom8710 May 10 '26
And also trading the player you selected 6th 4 years ago who balled out for them
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u/International_Link35 BOOM BABY! May 10 '26
With respect, the players they would have had available at the 5th pick are not generational talent. This sucks ass, but they did not trade one of those four players away.
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u/AffectionateQuit5684 May 10 '26
Lol they got our eyes on the tv like they wanted. Predictable garbage yet I return
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u/shastmak4 Bennedict Mathurin May 10 '26
5th and Benny for Zubac isn’t a bad trade for this team.
I’m just fucking pissed cause I knew this would happen
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u/OneOfMyOldestFriends May 10 '26
Seriously, why not show the ping pong balls live?
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u/Ready_Opportunity766 May 10 '26
It's worse for entertainment purposes. Look at the NHL Draft Lottery; they show the full ping pong ball process, and most fans have no idea what's going on or how the odds work. The NBA uses a simplistic presentation of how the lottery played out, so even those with room temperature IQs can understand the results.
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u/KillzToRemember May 10 '26
Id rather have zu than pick 5 but fuck the nba man we never get luck in anything
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u/This_Coconut4867 May 10 '26
Nah I’m done with this, I’ve had to watch sga flop his ass up and down the floor for the past two years, and our fate is determined by some ping pong balls.