The 10 best NBA moments of the 2019 calendar year

9. New Orleans Pelicans land the No. 1 overall pick

The early stages of 2019 were not kind to the New Orleans Pelicans.

Anthony Davis had requested a trade but the front office was unwilling to send him to his preferred destination of Los Angeles.

By this point, the bridge between the two parties had been burnt but neither could properly move on. The result was as awkward a middle period as there is where neither side could look towards the future while forcibly clinging to the last remnants of the past.

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New Orleans was destined to see a sizable return in exchange for AD, but his inevitable departure sulked the small-market franchise that could only dream of a superstar the caliber of Davis. This is, of course, until the basketball gods revealed themselves as they’ve done a handful of other times before.

The NBA had recently flattened the odds for the annual draft lottery, affording middling teams like the Pelicans a greater shot at the No. 1 pick. Still, New Orleans had just a 6 percent chance at the top pick, tied with two other teams, with six others ahead in the futility standings.

New Orleans didn’t just win any draft lottery. The organization won the 2019 lottery, gifting them the right to draft basketball phenom Zion Williamson, marking a smooth transition from one era to the next.

Williamson has yet to make his NBA debut on account of surgery to repair a torn meniscus and there are concerns regarding his conditioning given his unprecedented blend of size and athleticism.

Those questions don’t mean much to the Pelicans right now, not after what they went through in their final days with Davis.

For now, the mere presence of Zion in New Orleans has brewed excitement among both organization and fan base after a few ping-pong balls bounced in their favor.