The Hawks drafted Isaia Cordinier with the No. 44 pick, but he thought he’d go a little higher.
Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress:
Isaia Cordinier had a promise to be picked by a team drafting in the late 30s/early 40s, but team reneged at the last minute. Ugly story.
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) June 24, 2016
Even told other teams not to pick him because he was guaranteed to be brought to NBA right away. Had to scramble last minute to get picked
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) June 24, 2016
Looks like Isaia Cordinier will end up signing a one year deal in France, possibly with his hometown team Antibes. Will join Atlanta in 2017
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) June 24, 2016
Perhaps, wires just got crossed. Sometimes, promises are explicitly given conditionally. “We promise to draft you if…" Maybe the team’s interpretation of the promise is different than Cordinier’s and his agent’s.
But let’s just say this was a clear promise with no miscommunication. I’m not surprised it happened in this draft.
This was the most unpredictable draft in memory with so many players having wide draft ranges from the middle of the first round on. There were surely teams stunned by which prospects were available for their pick.
A team might have promised Cordinier because it assumed there was no chance certain other players would fall to the low 30s/high 40s. Then, someone ranked higher did, and the team reneged on its promise to Cordinier.
That’d still be scummy. If you make a promise, you should fulfill it. It’s not the promised player’s fault you couldn’t accurately predict the draft. But it’s one potential explanation for why a team failed to fulfill its promise – a somewhat rare thing – this year of all years.
