This is the on-site version of FTW’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. Here’s Charles Curtis.
As we all watched Victor Wembanyama become the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft — which we all knew would happen, of course — I had a moment.
It was gratitude. Here I am, a sports fan in 2023, getting ready to watch a once-in-a-generation talent get ready to start his career, perhaps changing the game with his blend of height, handle and shooting ability while being tutored by maybe the greatest coach of all time.
We are in the Era of Unicorns. And it’s not just in the NBA, where VERY tall players can now shoot, dribble and move like guards (side note: Can’t wait for Chet Holmgren to play this year!).
We are lucky to watch so many NFL quarterbacks who can do it all with their athleticism on the ground and through the air. We get to see Shohei Ohtani dominate on the mound while hitting bombs at the plate. We can watch Connor McDavid do Wayne Gretzky things except with speed like he’s got rocket booster attached to his jersey.
Yet, as my For The Win colleagues pointed out as we were discussing this very newsletter topic, the more unicorns there are, the more normal it becomes.
Wemby et al might be just the beginning of what will become typical for an NBA skill set for a big man. More pitcher/hitter hybrids could be on the way, inspired by Ohtani. Maybe McDavid is the beginning of a bygone era coming back, in which 150 points in a season isn’t an anomaly.
HOW COOL IS THAT? Think about that.
Quick Hits: All our NBA Draft analysis … A walk-off to the College World Series Final … and more.
— We graded every first-round pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. We also graded every major traded and ranked every team’s 2023 draft class. Also: We’re tracking the undrafted free agents.
— Fans were in awe of LSU’s phenomenal walk-off homer to advance to the College World Series final.
— The best draft red carpet outfits, but we had to talk about Gradey Dick’s sparkly red fit that became a meme
