While the top-seeded, forever rebuilding 76ers won Tuesday’s NBA Draft Lottery, Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri was the man of Midtown, on the dais to secure the final first-round prize to the 2013 blockbuster trade of Andrea Bargnani to the Knicks.
Ujiri chose Manhattan over Cleveland — missing Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals between his Raptors and the Cavaliers, a 115-84 Cleveland rout. Though he didn’t move up in the lottery, Ujiri is more than satisfied to pick ninth in the June 23 draft as his team competes for the Eastern title.
For the first time in NBA history, the seeding order didn’t change after the ping-pong balls danced.