J-Speaks: What If the Magic Did Not Trade Chris Webber on Draft Night?

On the night of the 1993 NBA Draft, the Orlando Magic traded the draft rights to all-around power forward prospect out of the University of Michigan Chris Webber to the Golden State Warriors, just a little over 20 minutes after taking him No. 1 overall. He was dealt for guard out of Memphis State Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway, the No. 3 overall pick by the Warriors. In one of the most fascinating deals in NBA draft history and one that would be reverberated over the next decade. What if though the Magic had kept Webber? 

During the 1993 NBA Draft Lottery, the Warriors got the No. 3 overall pick. The No. 2 overall pick went to the Philadelphia 76ers and the Magic, who just missed out on the playoffs finishing 41-41 in the 1992-93 NBA campaign, for the second straight year earned the No. 1 overall pick. 

The Magic and then General Manager Pat Williams were in perfect position to draft Chris Webber, a once in a generation prospect out of the University of Michigan to play alongside the prior season’s Rookie of the Year in eventual Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal. 

“If I go play on this team, I’m going to average a triple-double my whole life,” the former Wolverine said of the prospect of playing alongside O’Neal. “Because I’m going to get 10 boards and its going to be so easy to get 10 assists. I’m going to get 10 hoops a game.”

Sharp shooter and former Magic forward Dennis Scott, who is now a studio analyst and sideline reporter for NBATV echoed those same sentiments saying, “As a shooter I was saying, ‘I have C-Webb on one block, Shaquille on another block, I’m going to get so many wide-open shots. This is going to be fun.” 

O’Neal who watched Webber when he played in high school at Detroit Country Day School in Beverly Hills, MI area and for the maze and blue said that he reminded him of how he played, minus three inches. 

The former Magic center said that like him Webber was a tall front court player who could handle the basketball, make passes that guards can make in their sleep and can score on the block. 

The wheels of what would occur in the 1993 draft were set in motion when O’Neal and Hardaway worked together in a Paramount Movie that summer called “Blue Chips.” 

It was a basketball drama directed by William Friedkin that centered around a college basketball head coach, played by Nick Nolte of the Western University Dolphins in Los Angeles, CA under a lot of pressure to restore the team to its glory years of winning. 

Webber was approached to do that movie that but declined because he wanted to use that summer to prepare himself for the next chapter of his basketball career, the NBA. 

Webber’s family and friends, and his agent then thought he was crazy to not do the movie and looking back, he thought so too. He also said that the reason O’Neal and Hardaway got that chance is because they played games after filming. 

“I just come from college, a great team. It didn’t end the way I wanted to. We lost the championship,” he said of the famous timeout the Wolverines, who were nicknamed “The Fab Five” said of the finish to his college career. “So, in my mind it was more about grinding it out. Getting ready for my next challenge.” 

Prior to the movie, O’Neal did not no anything about Hardaway. Who he was as a person, the type of player on the court he was. 

Hardaway made such an impression on O’Neal during those pickup games that he convinced the Magic front office to acquire the multi-skilled guard. While they did draft Webber No. 1 overall in 1993, they had no intention of keeping him. 

It was moments after Hardaway was drafted that then NBA Commissioner David J. Stern said, “Orlando has traded the draft rights to Chris Webber to Golden State in exchange for the draft rights to Anfernee Hardaway and three future First-Round drafts picks.” 

In an interview later with the late Craig Sager of TNT, Hardaway said, “I didn’t know I was going to Orlando.” 

“I thought Chris was well deserve of the first pick and I thought they made their decision. But once they said about the trade it surprised me a lot.”

What if the Magic had not traded Webber, the 1994 NBA Rookie of the Year on draft night for Hardaway? What would had been like to have two dominant big men on the same squad?  

“I always say to myself what if ‘C-Webb’ and ‘Shaq’ would’ve played together? We probably could’ve of did the same damage as ‘Shaq’ and ‘Penny’ did,” O’Neal said of what might had been if he fellow analyst now at TNT/NBATV had joined him with the Magic. “I think about it all the time.” 

It would have been something to see two big men who can score on the block, with Webber’s ability to pull his man away from the basket with his ability to make 15 to 17-foot jumpers. 

Keeping both off the offensive glass would have been a nightmare for opposing teams and if you double-teamed one or the other, that would have opened up the likes of the previously mentioned Scott, Nick Anderson, Scott Skiles, and Jeff Turner, who now calls Magic games as the color analyst for FOX Sports, Sun Sports. 

The one weakness though would be at the end of games as O’Neal and Webber both struggled at the free throw line. 

As for Hardaway, if he had joined the Warriors in 1993-94, he would have teamed up in the backcourt with All-Star lead guard Tim Hardaway. The front court would have consisted of sharp shooter Chris Mullin, the now head coach at his alma mater St. Johns University, the multi-dimensional Billy Owens at the power forward and southpaw Chris Gatling at center. Playing the role of the Sixth Man would be Latrell Sprewell, who was the starting shooting guard on that 1993-94 Warriors team coached by Hall of Famer Don Nelson and his lead assistant in five-time champion head coach of the San Antonio Spurs Gregg Popovich. 

“Knowing Don Nelson that’s really interesting because they would have started playing small earlier in the NBA then they do now,” Warriors color analyst since 1985 Jim Barnett said. “Don was always tinkering around with small lineups. So now, he would have been small and maybe would have revolutionized the game that way a little earlier.” 

One thing that every announcer, especially the Warriors announcer of Barnett and then play-by-play man Steve Albert would have needed to do is when each Hardaway had the ball they would have had to announce their first name. 

During the time of leading into the 1993-94 NBA season, the league was looking for the next Michael Jordan or the closest thing to it. Hardaway according to Scott right after Grant Hill was that next guy that was 6’8” who can handle, shoot from distance, post-up, rebound and make plays for others. 

He came into games with an advantage because he was too tall for most guards checking him and was long enough to check the person he was guarding. 

Those are all attributes that Webber feels would have been good for Hardaway as a member of the Warriors had he gone there. 

At the end of the day both players had solid starts to their careers where they went to as Webber won Rookie of the Year and led the Warriors back to the playoffs on the heels of a 50-win season, the first in the Bay Area since winning 55 games in 1991-92. 

Hardaway with O’Neal, Anderson, Scott, and head coach Brian Hill led the Magic to their first playoff appearance in franchise history behind a 50-win season of their own. They too were swept in the opening round of the Eastern Conference playoffs by the runner up the Indiana Pacers of Hall of Famer Reggie Miller 3-0. 

One year later, the Magic in just their sixth year of existence reached the 1995 NBA Finals, but were swept 4-0 by eventual Hall of Famers Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler and O’Neal’s Inside the NBA on TNT colleague Kenny Smith and the Houston Rockets 4-0. 

On June 30, 1993 in Auburn Hills, MI ironically enough, the Orlando Magic and the Golden State Warriors executed a trade that was good for both franchises. Chris Webber began his NBA journey with the Golden State Warriors while Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway’s NBA start took place with the Orlando Magic. While it is very possible they would have had success if the trade had not taken place, but at the end of the day both players thrived in their first seasons in the NBA and in Webber’s case, he learned a lot that season that he appreciates to this day. He also gained a respect for what Hardaway did in his time with the Magic.

“Going to Golden State made me who I was,” Webber, whose team was swept in the opening round that postseason to his now fellow studio analyst Hall of Famer Charles Barkley and the Phoenix Suns 3-0. “I got a chance to play with a Hall of Famer in Chris Mullin. I got a chance to experience the West Coast. I got a chance to win Rookie of the Year, and so who knows what might have happened with all those things.”

“I became an even bigger fan of ‘Penny’ and a friend of his in Orlando because of him coming off the pick-and-rolls with D. Scott in the corner. ‘Shaq’ going to the hoop. Horace [Grant] shooting that jump shot up top.” 

“They just had an awesome team. I would say it was pretty much a success for both of us.” 

Information and quotations are courtesy of 5/12/18 NBATV original hosted by Chris Miles, “What If?” “Part 1;” “2006-07 Official NBA Guide,” by Sporting News; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlando_Magic; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Chips; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Webber; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit_Country_Day_School; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_NBA_draft.