The nightmare Draft Lottery night for Memphis: The Grizzlies could’ve landed LeBron James — but ended up with nothing
It was a very real ‘here is what you could have won’ moment for the Grizzlies, who were an inch away from landing LeBron.
Remember back to 2003, what were you doing? Concorde took its final flight, the Human Genome Project was completed, Poland joined the EU, the USA entered Iraq...
And, most important of all, the Memphis Grizzlies could - and perhaps should - have signed LeBron James.
A simply catastrophic 28-54 season saw the Grizzlies curiously only given a 6.4% chance of winning the first overall pick in the NBA Draft Lottery.
LeBron hints that the league may have rigged the 2003 lottery for the Cavs 😅
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) March 26, 2025
“Let’s keep LeBron home…Patrick Ewing to the Knicks, LeBron to the Cavs, Rose to the Bulls. I get it man.”
(🎥 @PatMcAfeeShow / h/t @Boness305 )
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Memphis lose out on #1 pick
This pick was especially significant because of a previous trade from 1997, when the Grizzlies had acquired veteran player Otis Thorpe from the Detroit Pistons. As part of that deal, Memphis agreed to send Detroit a future first-round draft pick. However, there was a condition: if the pick ever turned out to be the #1 overall pick, the Grizzlies would keep it. Any other result meant the pick would go to the Pistons.
As then–deputy commissioner Russ Granik unveiled each draft envelope, tension steadily rose. The suspense kicked in when the Los Angeles Clippers were revealed at the #6 spot — a pick that originally belonged to Memphis. Then came Miami at #5. Toronto at #4. When the Denver Nuggets, who had the best odds of winning, landed at #3, the impossible seemed within reach.
Suddenly, it was down to two teams: the Memphis Grizzlies and the Cleveland Cavaliers. A 50/50 shot at landing LeBron James. It felt real.
Until it wasn’t.
Granik pulled out the #2 card, and there it was: the old-school Grizzlies logo. Memphis had missed. No LeBron. Just pain.
“Obviously I haven’t thought about Memphis one minute”
— 🎭 (@MaskedInLA) April 12, 2023
LeBron after breaking down the entire Grizzlies roster on the spot 💀🐐
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Because of the aforementioned conditions on the 1997 Otis Thorpe trade, Memphis gave it up to the Detroit Pistons — who famously squandered it on Serbian center Darko Milicic. The ultimate story of nearly having it all and ending the night with nothing.
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