2023 NBA Draft: Four years ago, Zion and Ja were the future of the NBA. Now they are at a crossroads

The most memorable image of the 2019 NBA Draft actually came around a month before, the night the New Orleans Pelicans won the lottery for the right to the first overall selection.

As that bit of fortune was unveiled (New Orleans had just a 6% chance to win), a camera was pointed at the team’s ticket department, which then erupted into a level of delirium akin to winning the actual NBA championship.

You couldn’t blame them. Zion Williamson was about to become a Pelican, and if nothing else, selling tickets was about to become a pretty easy job. Championships were expected to follow.

The Memphis Grizzlies technically lost the final spin of the lottery balls — they finished with the No. 2 pick. There was no disappointment expressed though. Second meant the chance to grab Ja Morant, a high-flying sensation fresh off an electric NCAA tournament with Murray State.

“I’ve always told folks that you need to be both lucky and smart,” Grizzlies president Jason Wexler said at the time. “... We got some luck tonight.”

Zion and Ja. Ja and Zion.

Two South Carolina kids, and one-time AAU teammates, were coming to the NBA with their own unique blend of power, athleticism and flair. The league was thrilled with the addition of young talent, the kind that could fill up highlight shows and social media feeds with breathtaking plays.

Four years later, there have been those flashes of genius and jump-out-of-your-seat moments, but there have also been injuries and suspensions, controversies and questions.

Four years later — just after the NBA held a draft with perhaps another new wave of generational talent that will set off anticipation and celebration — Zion and Ja are at a crossroads and absolutely no one knows where or how it ends up.

One is the subject of health concerns and trade rumors. The other is suspended. Again.

That’s how quickly it can come undone.

Thursday in New York focused on Victor Wembanyama, the 7-foot-4 Frenchman who plays the game like perhaps no other human ever has. He went to San Antonio. After that came Brandon Miller, a smooth and lanky outside shooter, to Charlotte, and Portland selected Scoot Henderson, an athletic, slashing guard.

Four years ago it was New Orleans that shut down Fulton Street Square in the Warehouse District to throw a fan party — brass bands, drumlines, dance teams — to welcome their new savior, Zion.

Thursday it was San Antonio hosting one party at the AT&T Center and another at an outdoor venue in Austin. Wembanyama-mania is so big in Texas, it can’t be contained to just one city.

There are no guarantees though. None at all, because the hurdles and hassles can come in unexpected ways.

Williamson has never managed to stay healthy. A meniscus tear delayed the start of his rookie season by a few months. An entire year was lost due to a foot fracture. Along the way hamstrings, knees, ankles, load management … it’s one thing after another for a man who may prove to be too big and too powerful for the sport.

Zion has played just 114 games across four seasons and none in the playoffs. And he’s currently embroiled in a social-media soap opera that has caused all the wrong kind of public chatter and helped fuel trade possibilities.

When he is healthy, focused and in shape, the two-time All-Star is still a sight to behold. Whether he can be that again, and for how long, is completely unknown.

That draft lottery excitement seems like a distant memory.

Morant, meanwhile, has mostly delivered on the court. He’s been one of the NBA’s biggest attractions, a two-time All-Star who plays the game above the rim. The dunks. The blocks. It’s all there. And the Grizzlies have slowly morphed into a winner with three consecutive playoff appearances, albeit with just one series win.

It’s off the court that Morant is a mess. The NBA suspended him for eight games last season after he was seen on an Instagram Live video brandishing a gun inside a Denver strip club, a violation of league conduct policy. It played a part in tanking a promising season.

Morant vowed to be better but earlier this spring he was again seen on social media with a firearm, leading the NBA to suspend him the first 25 games of the 2023-24 season.

“I realize how much hurt I’ve caused,” Morant said in a statement.

That includes the hurt caused to his own career. What exactly is leading Morant to self-destructive decisions — and easily avoidable incidents — isn’t clear. Nor is it clear that he can figure out how to be better in the future, so he can have a future.

Zion and Ja may still be on the path to greatness. Or maybe not.

There are no parallels between them and Wembanyama, Henderson or Miller. What befell the former may never impact the latter. Different people. Different circumstances. Even past mistakes (by Miller, in particular) are washed away with a fresh start. Everyone is healthy for now.

It’s just that four years ago — the last time the league held a draft with this much anticipation for this kind of surge of potentially sport-altering talent — absolutely no one could have predicted what would come or how it would come for Zion and Ja.

Let alone what might still be to come for both.