The biggest story line of the 2013 NBA Draft was supposed to be about who would go as the No. 1 pick and where Nerlens Noel would end up.
It looked to lean that way when the Cleveland Cavaliers went with Anthony Bennett – a surprise to many – and Noel shockingly dropped all the way down to the New Orleans Pelicans at No. 6. The biggest bombshell of the night, however, came from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports:
The Philadelphia 76ers have acquired the rights to sixth overall pick Nerlens Noel in a trade that sends point guard Jrue Holiday to the New Orleans Pelicans, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.
The Pelicans also will send a 2014 first-round pick to the Sixers in the trade. The Sixers received a second-round pick (No. 42 overall in Thursday’s draft) from the Pelicans.
That’s what many on twitter like to refer to as a “Woj Bomb”.
Holiday developed into an All-Star player over the past season and was probably one of the last players anyone would ever have expected to be a part of a draft-day deal. If other teams knew that drafting Noel would net them Holiday, perhaps some of them would have had a change of mind about who to take with their first overall pick.
Check out how players around the league reacted to the trade, along with various parts of the draft below:
Welcome to the team! @VicOladipo
— Maurice Harkless (@moe_harkless) June 28, 2013
@Jrue_Holiday11 will be great for us… Very excited!!! — Eric Gordon (@TheofficialEG10) June 28, 2013
Okc just drafted that dude nail that had the nail stuck in his head on happy gilmore — JARRETT JACK (@Jarrettjack03) June 28, 2013
Welcome Steven Adams — Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) June 28, 2013
How wacky is this draft? Utah gets a future PTPer in @Trey_Burke3 – Minnesota gets MR MEDIOCRITY! — Dick Vitale (@DickieV) June 28, 2013
Welcome to Portland @CJMcCollum #RipCity #nbadraft2013 — Nicolas Batum (@nicolas88batum) June 28, 2013
I am keeping my day job but this is kind of fun. Reminds me of my draft night 12 years ago. CraZy. Time goes fast. — Shane Battier (@ShaneBattier) June 28, 2013
Ooooooh Drake reference. lol — Kendall Marshall (@KButter5) June 28, 2013
Congrats to @CJMcCollum and welcome! Excited to have him as a teammate. Excellent scorer and very hard worker. #RipCity — Meyers Leonard (@MeyersLeonard11) June 28, 2013
Might be best pick of draft… CJ McCollum — Andre Iguodala (@andre) June 28, 2013
Chillin, watching the draft. I can’t believe it’s been 10 yrs. since I was drafted already. — Chris Bosh (@chrisbosh) June 28, 2013
Whos philly pg now? — Brandon Rush (@BRush_4) June 28, 2013
Really do believe that Trey Burke at No.9 is a complete steal. I love this guy. He’s a gamer and can flat play the game. Love #TBurke — Rex Chapman (@rexchapman) June 28, 2013