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Paulo Ankro and Adam Silver (Reuters)
Jabari Smith will go to Orlando, Chet Holmgren will be selected by Oklahoma and Paulo Ankro will arrive in Houston, NBA reporter Adrian Wozniacki revealed just hours before the start of the draft. The Magic selected Paulo Ankro, Duke’s forward, in the first place, while Jabari Smith, who was marked as the first choice, was selected only third by the Rockets.Center Chet Holmgren, as expected, was chosen in the second place by the Thunder .
In fourth place was Keegan Marie, Iowa forward, by the Sacramento Kings. Jayden Ivy became the first coordinator in the 2022 draft, when he was selected fifth by Detroit (his mother played on Detroit’s WNBA team and his grandfather played on the city’s football team). Benedict Mathurin of Arizona became the sixth pick when taken by Indiana. In seventh place, Portland selected Sheydon Sharp, the talented guard from Kentucky, who was selected despite not playing in colleges.
Australian guard Jason Daniels became the eighth pick when taken by New Orleans. San Antonio, which picked up the top 10 for the first time since 1997 (Tim Duncan), selected forward Jeremy Sohan, while Washington closed out the top ten with the selection of Johnny Davis, Guard Wisconsin, who is considered to have excellent shooting abilities and will collaborate with Danny Abdia.
We later got an interesting trade when Charlotte selected center Jaylen Dorn in 13th place and immediately moved him to New York, from where he moved to Detroit along with Kamba Walker. The Pistons handed over to the Hornets in exchange the selection of the first round in 2025 that belonged to Milwaukee, and which they received in the Jeremy Grant deal. In another trade, Philadelphia transferred Danny Green and the 23rd pick (David Rudy) to Memphis, in exchange for guard D’Antoni Melton.
