024: Draft Show_2

In the days that followed, Roger felt time moved incredibly slowly. Waiting for the NBA Draft to start felt like an eternity.

Finally, on June 30, the world temporarily stopped discussing whether Michael Jordan would retire. Everyone's focus was on the NBA Draft held at the Palace of Auburn Hills arena in Detroit.

When Roger entered, the venue was filled with flashes of cameras. As the only high school rookie invited to the green room, Roger's popularity was no less than that of Chris Webber, Penny, and others.

Once inside, Penny Hardaway was staring straight at him, and it wasn't friendly.

On the surface, Hardaway seemed like a very amiable person.

But everyone has a different side, and Hardaway was no exception.

Normally, he was indeed amicable, but once it involved personal interests, he could become cold and ruthless.

In history, when Hardaway had just finished his rookie season and demanded a huge contract from the Magic, the media lambasted him; O'Neal was the only person who supported him.

However, when O'Neal sought a big contract, Hardaway told the management, "This is my team, and in today's league, it's the era of guards."

That was when the Magic management said, "Sorry Shaq, we don't want Penny to be upset."

Now, Roger became the person who touched Hardaway's interests. Penny didn't want to be pushed out of the top three by a high school kid.

Hence, Hardaway's attitude toward Roger was clearly different from before.

He seemed to be using his gaze to tell Roger, "I played two years of college basketball before anyone was willing to pick me in the top three, what makes you, a high school kid, think you deserve this?"

Roger ignored Hardaway. He wasn't so concerned about the draft order; as long as he was in the lottery, it was fine.

Because countless facts have proven that the draft order has little to do with a player's ultimate achievement.

Take the upcoming '93 draft as an example, with 24th pick "Extraterrestrial" Cassell and undrafted Bruce Bowen; their final career achievements could easily be ranked in the top five of the class of '93.

Moreover, the salary of a rookie contract in this era is not linked to the draft position.

Therefore, Roger didn't quite understand Hardaway's hostile actions.

Roger just calmly took his seat, and as soon as he sat down, Eric's phone immediately rang.

After hanging up, he looked at Roger and patted the high school rookie's shoulder, "Don't worry, the Pistons just confirmed with me again, they will choose you with the tenth pick. At least for today, we won't embarrassingly be those invited to the green room but fall out of the lottery."

As soon as he finished speaking, Eric's phone rang again.

This call brought an even brighter smile to Eric's face, "At least ninth, Roger. The Nuggets also called to confirm, they're waiting for you with their ninth pick."

Roger nodded; he just wanted to fast-forward past everyone else to the moment he was picked.

However, it was clearly impossible, life isn't like an art movie where you can skip directly to the most exciting part.

Roger waited until 7:50, when David Stern walked up to the stage and gave a brief introduction.

Every child who loves playing basketball in the world has once fantasized about having their name called by David Stern.

Roger certainly had similar fantasies before.

He took a deep breath; the fantasy was about to become reality!

After a brief introduction, the draft officially began.

In his career as commissioner, the first name David Stern ever announced at an NBA Draft was Hakeem Olajuwon. Since then, each year's first name announced was highly anticipated.

Before that, NBC host Bob Costas was discussing how miraculous it was for the Magic to get the No. 1 pick.

As a team just one step away from the playoffs, the Magic obtained the No. 1 pick with a super low probability of 1.5%, making it hard not to spawn various conspiracy theories.

In fact, since the first lottery in 1985 allowed the Knicks to pick Ewing, the conspiracy theories regarding the NBA draft had never ceased.

But suspicions from the fans were not unreasonable, because too many coincidences had occurred in the NBA draft.

In 2003, when the local Cleveland GOAT became a hot prospect, why was it precisely the Cavaliers who got the No. 1 pick?

In 2008, when Chicago native Derrick Rose declared for the draft, why did the Bulls exactly get the top pick?

In 2011, just after the Cavaliers lost James, they just happened to get the No. 1 pick.

And in 2012, the newly NBA-managed New Orleans Hornets also fortuitously got the favor of lady luck.

Now, everyone knew O'Neal was on the rise, destined to become the league's leading figure. He just needed a helping hand to completely explode in popularity.

Then, the Magic incredibly got the No. 1 pick.

The entire world wanted to know how the Magic would use their two consecutive No. 1 picks.

Five minutes later, the answer was revealed. David Stern announced that the Magic Team selected the immensely talented Chris Webber with their first pick.

All the Magic fans in the hall stood up and cheered; they had been worried that the Magic management might really have a brain-fade and pick Roger.

O'Neal, however, was still anxiously watching the TV, unsure if there would be any subsequent trades.

The Philadelphia 76ers happily took Shawn Bradley with the second pick, believing this 229 cm giant would completely end the dark era after Barkley's departure.