New York, New York - All eyes in the NBA were on New York City as the future of the league waited for their names to be called one-by-one in the 2021 Draft.

The Detroit Pistons were on the clock first and wasted no time in picking Oklahoma State star Cade Cunningham (19) with the top overall selection.

Nearly every single draft analyst had Cunningham going straight to Detroit, ever since the Pistons got lucky enough to win the top pick in this past June’s draft lottery.

The Pistons have been quite unlucky otherwise during the last 12 seasons, though. Despite making the playoffs three times over that span, they haven’t won a single playoff game in those three postseason appearances.

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"I'm excited to come and do what I can to help those guys speed up the process of getting back to winning championships,'' said Cunningham during his post-draft interview with ESPN.

The Houston Rockets and Cleveland Cavaliers followed draft projections with the Rockets picking Jalen Green second and the Cavs taking Evan Mobley out of Southern California with the third pick.

Green was notable in that he wasn’t drafted out of college. He jumped right from high school and into the NBA G-League, or developmental league, playing for the NBA G League Ignite.

The Toronto Raptors were on the clock next and selected Florida State University's Scottie Barnes.

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The fifth pick went to the Orlando Magic as they went for another highly-touted college star in Jalen Suggs, out of Gonzaga. Suggs wasn’t expected to fall as far as the fifth pick after leading Gonzaga to an NCAA title game appearance, but he’s still got his shot to turn the Magic around.

The 2021–22 NBA season begins on Tuesday, October 19, 2021.