The Charlotte Hornets selected LaMelo Ball with the third overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.
One slot earlier, the Golden State Warriors opted to take Memphis big man James Wiseman.
Considering that the Ball went on to win Rookie of the Year last season whereas Wiseman struggled through an injury-plagued inaugural campaign that saw him play in just 39 outings, many assume Golden State wishes they could have that one back.
Complicating matters even further is the fact that the Warriors allegedly lied to Ball heading into that draft.
During a recent appearance on the The Ryen Russillo Podcast, Warriors GM Bob Myers made a surprising admission regarding Ball and everything that went into not taking him.
“We targeted James [Wiseman,] obviously we took him in front of LaMelo [Ball],” he said.” “We debate everything … we’re pretty debate-oriented. It’s not just me in a room saying ‘this is what we’re doing’ and then I shut the door. We hashed out the whole thing as far as what we thought.
“We ended up ranking it the way we did. We watched LaMelo, he had a great workout when we saw him. We knew he would be a really good player, but we ended up putting James in front of him.”
Jake Paul and Julia Rose are going to extreme measures. https://t.co/ROTmOdoPsN
— Game 7 (@game7__) December 18, 2021
Obviously the Warriors felt like a ball-dominant guard would be a redundancy beside Stephen Curry, but given the immense respect the latter clearly has for Ball, second-guessing is inevitable.
Big picture, LaVar Ball didn’t want his son on the Warriors anyway – so all’s well that ends well on that front.
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Charles Kruger has been credentialed to cover two Super Bowls, four NBA Finals, and one World Series. A 20-year veteran in the sports world, he has sources spanning the NBA, MLB, NFL, UFC and NASCAR. Currently residing in Los Angeles, Calif., he is Game 7’s go-to source for rumors surrounding the Lakers, Clippers and Dodgers.
