After all the speculation over what the Charlotte Hornets would do with the No. 2 pick of the 2023 NBA Draft, and the ensuing rollercoaster odds movement, the team went chalk and drafted Brandon Miller.
The pick was the second in a line of six-straight at the top of the draft that saw the players with the best odds come off the board at the spot they were favored just before the start of the draft.
No. 1 Victor Wembanyama. No. 2 Brandon Miller. No. 3 Scoot Henderson. No. 4 Amen Thompson. No. 5 Ausar Thompson. No. 6 Anthony Black.
Then, the streak stopped. The Washington Wizards carried their trading frenzy into the draft and moved up from No. 8 to No. 7 to take Bilal Coulibaly from France.
This was the biggest reach of the top 10, according to the odds, and it’s not close. Coulibaly had +3000 odds to be drafted No. 7, trailing eight other players and five that were still on the board.
Bilal Coulibaly has been taken No. 7 overall in a trade to the Wizards, per @ShamsCharania
Wemby's Met92 teammate 👏 pic.twitter.com/eRPhehdOTP
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 23, 2023
This next detail is going to be sickening for anyone who bet on the player actually favored at No. 7, Jarace Walker. The Indiana Pacers, original owners of the pick, ended up taking Walker at No. 8. The right team got him, but at the wrong spot.
That obviously means No. 8 wasn’t a chalk pick either, as Black — the No. 6 pick — was also favored there. Things got back on track for No. 9, though, where the favored Taylor Hendricks was drafted by the Utah Jazz. Then, another trade altered the No. 10 pick.
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Dereck Lively was the favorite at +100 to go to the Dallas Mavericks, and he ultimately did go to Dallas, but only after the Mavericks traded back to No. 12 and allowed the Oklahoma City Thunder to take Cason Wallace (+650) at No. 10.
Though Wallace’s odds at No. 10 weren’t as long as Coulibaly’s at No. 7, he might have been an even bigger top-10 surprise. DraftKings gave Wallace +100 odds to be drafted under 14.5, while Coulibaly had -270 odds to be drafted under 11.5.
