The 9th and 9th whale is being summoned yet again, and no, it’s not for more snow.
The NBA Draft Lottery is tonight. It’s an important night for the Utah Jazz, who have a 4.5% chance of landing the No. 1 pick and a 20.3% of that pick landing in the top four.
That matters because 7-foot-4, 19-year-old French pro Victor Wembanyama is widely considered to be the consensus No. 1 pick in this year’s draft, and many teams have apparently lost games on purpose for the best chance at getting him.
The Jazz are doing their part for some lottery luck in employing guard Collin Sexton to represent the team in Chicago tonight. But fans of the team are also trying their best to sway the lottery gods.
Bryant Heath, who runs the Instagram account @slsees, which posts photos showing “the quirky side” of Salt Lake City, tweeted that he made an offering to the whale sculpture in the 9th and 9th area of Sugar House hoping the Jazz get the pick that lands them Wembanyama.
Heath used the alliterative hashtag, “WhalesForWemby.” The photos show a Jazz practice shirt propped against the base of the whale.
A screenshot of Instagram account slsees posting about making an offering to the 9th and 9th whale so the Utah Jazz can get the No. 1 pick in Tuesday's NBA Draft Lottery.
While the Jazz’s chances are mathematically slim due to ending their seasons with a not-bad-enough 37-45 record, crazier things have happened. The Cleveland Cavaliers, for instance, landed the No. 1 pick in 2011 that turned into Kyrie Irving despite a 2.8% chance of winning the lottery.
Later in the day, the Jazz themselves went to the whale sculpture and left their own offering, per their official twitter account. Their offering included a signed, white Sexton jersey and a white basketball with signatures of Jazz players.
Even Salt Lake City major Erin Mendenhall got in on the offering fun. She wrote a proclamation on what appears to be official city stationary that reads, in part, “all Salt Lakers should take note of the 9th and 9th Whale to bless the Utah Jazz in their pursuit of the 9 (No.) 1 overall NBA draft pick.”
