Selected by them with the no. 3 overall pick, it was rumored that Jahlil Okafor was not happy going to the Philadelphia 76ers and he may just have shown his displeasure during his introductory press conference.
After being introduced by the 76ers Saturday afternoon, Jahlil Okafor, alongside with second-round draft picks Richaun Holmes and J.P. Tokoto, posed for pictures with their new team’s jersey in hand. When things were all finished, Okafor appeared to want nothing to do with his 76ers jersey.
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Throughout the college basketball season, Okafor was projected to be the first player selected in the 2015 NBA Draft. However, despite him winning the National Championship, Karl-Anthony Towns overtook Okafor for the top spot when the college basketball season concluded.
After the NBA Draft Lottery results were revealed, Okafor falling from the top spot no longer looked like a bad thing, as the Los Angeles Lakers were awarded the No. 2 pick and seemed to be in need of another big man to pair along with Julius Randle — their first-round pick in the 2014 NBA Draft.
Ready to take his talents to Hollywood on draft night, Okafor received the surprise of a lifetime. Rather than hearing NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announce his name with the Lakers on the clock, Okafor was instead selected by the forever rebuilding 76ers – a team who already had two other talented young big men in Nerlens Noel and Joel Embiid on their roster.
Immediately after the pick many cited the 76ers as one of the winners of the 2015 draft. This was due to having a talent like Okafor fall to them. On the flip side however, many cited Okafor as one of the night’s losers.
Since Thursday night there have been reports – which he has since denied — that Okafor was not happy that he was selected by the 76ers. But in all honesty, who could blame him when he could have easily ended up in Los Angeles? Whether or not Okafor actually dropped his new 76ers jersey without regard on purpose we will never know, but the footage of him doing so certainly does not play in his favor.