With another Premier League season having come to an end, it is time for the end of term reports cards. Was your team delightful or dismal? Fantastic or frustrating?

Here is how this TV commentator graded all 20 Premier League clubs from "A" (superb) to "F" (awful) in terms of how they measured up against preseason expectations.

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Arsenal: B+ (if they win the Europa League), C+ (if they lose)

The jury is still out. Winning a first European trophy in 25 years in Baku, Azerbaijan, on May 29 against Chelsea would fire the Gunners back into the Champions League next season and make Unai Emery's first campaign into a highly satisfactory one. But if they lose that final, the mood will be far more subdued with the club missing its top-four target and facing another year of Thursday night football. Either way, Emery needs to improve a suspect defence and terrible away record.

Bournemouth: B

Sixth in October, it looked as if Eddie Howe might take his Cherries into Europe. But despite the excellence of young David Brooks, Ryan Fraser and Callum Wilson, a leaky defence and a run of nine successive away defeats saw them fade in to the bottom half. Never in a moment's relegation trouble and usually worth watching.

Brighton & Hove Albion: D

Sacking the likeable Chris Hughton is like shooting Bambi. He took them to the Premier League and kept them there, despite this season's close shave late with relegation. The club clearly want more adventurous football. We will see how this firing turns out next May.

Burnley: B-

Burnley's July start trying to qualify for the Europa League threatened to derail the entire campaign, and relegation looked a real threat at Christmas. It was a measure of Sean Dyche's management skills that he engineered a defiant revival, barely changing his team of mostly British foot soldiers.

Cardiff City: C+

Everyone's tip for relegation, Neil Warnock's team fought tenaciously but -- with only minimal investment after promotion -- lacked the quality required. We will never know if the signing of Emiliano Sala, who died tragically in a plane crash before ever playing for the Bluebirds, would have provided the goals to keep them up. The club handled the tragedy with the utmost class and dignity.

Chelsea: B

Manager Maurizio Sarri got a rough ride from the club's supporters, despite leading the club back into the Champions League and into two other finals. It seems "Sarriball" is not their favourite game, but he can argue back it is "mission accomplished." It looks like Eden Hazard is leaving, and with a transfer ban looming, there are tricky times ahead.

Crystal Palace: B+

Roy Hodgson's team of counter-attackers were happiest away from home, even winning 3-2 at Manchester City helped by a goal of the season nominee from Andros Townsend. But this could be the summer where they decide to finally cash in on the tricky and in-demand Wilfried Zaha. Comfortably mid-table, so the the Eagles campaign has to be considered a success.

Everton: B

Finished with a flourish and not far away from a European spot. Marco Silva, after a tricky start, seems to be providing the sexier football that the Goodison fans quench. Can they gatecrash the top six next season with some clever investment? Significant progress stylistically.

Fulham: F

Were expected to grace the Premier League after passing their way to promotion with a refreshing and free-flowing style. But they bought badly and changed a winning team too much, leaking goals with reckless abandon and going through three managers. Relegated.

Huddersfield Town: F-

Not the worst team ever seen in the Premier League (that was Derby County in 2007-08 with 11 points), but not far off it. They were nowhere near good enough, despite their excellent fans and community work.

Leicester City: B

Sacked Claude Puel and became much easier on the eye under Brendan Rodgers, who has seemingly rejuvenated striker Jamie Vardy. They currently have a team capable of making a top-six challenge next season, but can they hold on to Harry Maguire, Ben Chilwell, and Wilfred Ndidi? Bear in mind they had to cope with the tragedy and trauma of helicopter crash at the ground which tragically claimed the life of Thai owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha.

Liverpool: A

Winning the Champions League would ease the pain, but the wait for that elusive Premier League title goes on. Jurgen Klopp added steel to silk with spectacular results this season, and the recent comeback against Barcelona probably goes down as the greatest night at Anfield to date.

Manchester City: A

The first team in a decade to retain the title, amassing 198 points in the past two seasons under Pep Guardiola. Smooth, lethal, hungry and relentless, they are on the verge of an unprecedented domestic treble -- although the Champions League remains elusive.

Manchester United: F-

A calamitous season which ended with no trophy, no Champions League place and with major surgery needed on a squad of players who need to take a long look in the mirror. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer sparked a midseason revival after the surly reign of Jose Mourinho ended, but soon enough he, too, was doubting the mentality and quality of the players at his disposal. United are miles off the team their legions of fans crave.

Newcastle: B+

Kept out of trouble by the clever coaching of Rafa Benitez, and the vibes seem to indicate he will be staying. But that will surely only happen with the investment the fans crave to get the Toon back to where they were in the days of Kevin Keegan and Sir Bobby Robson. A good start would be splashing the cash to secure Player of the Season Salomon Rondon. Probably overachieved considering what they have, but can they take a step forward next season?

Southampton: C

An inspired decision to appoint Austrian Ralph Hasenhuttl saved a season which was heading for the rocks. Nathan Redmond and James Ward-Prowse in particular, looked different players, and Shane Long at last found his scoring touch. Previously poor.

Tottenham: B+

Finished in the top four despite losing their way and falling to 13 league defeats. None of that matters though, as Spurs defied the odds to dramatically reach their first Champions League final while also doing enough in the league to secure a place in the competition again next season. That achievement masks a need for investment if Spurs are to contest the title.

Watford: A-

Tough and talented, this was their best season since finishing runners-up under Graham Taylor in the 1983. It could get better in the FA Cup final next Saturday, where victory for Javi Gracia's team against Manchester City would take them into Europe.

West Ham: C-

Maddeningly erratic as a club in Manuel Pellegrini's first season; Felipe Anderson was classy, Declan Rice a revelation and Marko Arnautovic a pain. Unsung keeper Lukasz Fabianski was one of the signings of the season, but it was a disappointing campaign considering they are capable of better.

Wolves: A

One of the best promoted teams ever, playing sweet football and often shocking even the top six teams. A well-deserved seventh place will mean European football for this famous old club if Manchester City win the FA Cup. There were several stars, but Raul Jimenez's goals were crucial

Antoine Griezmann will have plenty of suitors now he's announced his departure from Atletico Madrid this summer: Manchester United tried hard to sign him in 2017 but need him now more than ever, while he would amplify the trophy chances of PSG, Juventus, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid without any question.

Even if you are cynical about a guy who drew out the "is he or isn't he?" saga for an eternity a year ago before using the daft "The Decision" video to announce that he wasn't going anywhere, you have to understand why there will be a queue of the world's leading clubs now the French World Cup winner is on the market.

However, it would be a big surprise if his final destination was not Barcelona.

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While Bayern need a short-term strike partner and long-term replacement for Robert Lewandowski, and United's misplaced faith in Alexis Sanchez has them looking for new blood, it's tough to understand why they would be Griezmann's first choice. Ditto Juve who, despite their dominance of Serie A, don't look equipped to win the Champions League and may be about to enter a summer of upheaval whether coach Massimiliano Allegri departs or stays.

The likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, Inter and PSG could undoubtedly present their need for the brilliant, hard working, ambitious Frenchman who, until he announced his exit, was loved at Atleti. But Barcelona offer a special package.

If the Catalans are willing to deposit his €130m buyout clause on July 1 and persuade Griezmann to reject other offers, then Messi is jewel in the crown.

To play next to arguably the greatest footballer of all-time, to learn from him, to benefit from his largesse and to accompany him onto the podium to lift trophy after trophy -- well that's a legitimate dream for any elite footballer, not just a guy like Griezmann.

Luis Suarez has been Messi's best-ever strike partner for a number of reasons. His hunger, total commitment to winning relentlessly, additional goal power, and centre forward play which complements the Argentinian's need to flit around the spaces which emerge when a No. 9 is on the ball.

Suarez is a hugely intuitive, genuine and generous "amigo" for Messi to play with, but at 32 he's not getting any younger and his record of failing to score away from home in the Champions League for three-and-a-half years isn't just atrocious it's an indication that things will never get better again on that front.

I'd say it's a good bet that Suarez is off to David Beckham's Inter Miami FC project in a year at the latest. He's not going to be offered a new contract and the supreme domestic form we've witnessed this season does not suggest that there's not room for someone to challenge, and eventually replace, him.

Indeed, the way in which Griezmann happily feeds Diego Costa, Alvaro Morata, or even his French international team partners, indicates that there's a potential dovetail with Messi. Others have tried and succeeded, or failed, to relative degrees -- but the evidence is that a Messi-Griezmann axis is, hypothetically, perfect.

But for his "Decision" they could have been playing together this season already. Last summer it was only a massive wave of emotion and loyalty to his then-home, Atleti, the Metroplitano, his great friend Diego Godin, and to Diego Simeone, that made him turn down what looked like a shoo-in move to Camp Nou.

Barcelona had been whispering sweet nothings in the ear of Griezmann's representative, his sister, and it wasn't until Atleti surged to their Europa League victory, until Godin cautioned him to be patient rather than rash, and until the rabidly enthusiastic Atleti fans gave him a taste of their potential ire if he should move, did the striker abandon his plans to move north.

But the nectar of Barcelona's entreaties stayed with him. Atleti may have finished second in La Liga this season but their humiliation in Turin against Juve, being knocked out of the Copa del Rey by (now) relegated Girona and the clear evidence that Los Colchoneros are either in decline or a period of huge renovation -- or both -- were chastening facts for the ambitious Frenchman to chew on.

The fact that Godin is leaving this summer, for Serie A and Inter Milan, isn't a coincidence. He was Griezmann's mentor and his impending absence removed an anchor, something to tie the principal striker to a club where, frankly, it's just as feasible to suggest that they go a couple of trophyless seasons as it is that Simeone and Mono Burgos put things right with a big summer in the transfer market and a twist of their coaching magic from July onwards.

Having tasted World Cup glory last summer, having won the Europa League and having watched Barcelona do their "close but no cigar" act in the Champions League again, I'd imagine that if Griezmann is not yet fully committed to the Blaugrana then (a) he should be soon and (b) if they miss him again then heads will roll in the Camp Nou offices.

Barcelona have jumped through hoops for a player before, of course. In summer 2006 they'd spent the best part of a year convincing Thierry Henry, Arsenal and the French World Cup winner's agents that he should move to Camp Nou. But the way in which his then-team, Arsenal, lost the 2006 Champions League final to Barca meant that Henry, in his fury, ripped up the tentative deal.

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A year later, he changed his mind. Henry arrived from the Premier League, took a season to acclimatise and, with the arrival of Pep Guardiola as first team coach, played a massive role in Barcelona winning their first Treble -- culminating in a Champions League final victory in Rome against Manchester United.

Henry was 29 when he made the move, Griezmann is 28 now and it must be a huge part of Barcelona's calculations that the Frenchman isn't just the right age, has the right mentality and the right talents -- he's a guy who's hungry for bigger prizes and plays in a way which might fit with Messi. They would certainly forgive the embarassment of last summer if the Champions League was returned to Camp Nou once again next season.

As for Atleti -- it's adios, I think, not "see you later." The club's fans don't take it well where heroes leave in any other fashion than Godin just did -- retired after honourable duty, moving to another country and walking out the exit door with the feeling that there's nowhere more special to them than the Majadahonda training ground or the Metropolitano stadium.

Griezmann ending up at Barca would only be trumped if he crossed the city, as Hugo Sanchez once did, and signed for Real Madrid. But I don't believe he would do that. Real may be on the long list of suitors, but a move to Barcelona seems like a match made in heaven.

Over the last three ICC tournaments, no one has scored more runs than Shikhar Dhawan's 1113 in 18 innings. Two of those tournaments, the Champions Trophy 2013 and 2017, took place in the UK, where the upcoming World Cup will also be held. With the form and confidence from one of his best IPL seasons to date, the opening batsman is confident about repeating his success in the country.

"People tell me about my record in ICC events, but frankly speaking, the intent has always been the same. It's not that the effort is less than 100% ever," Dhawan told Press Trust of India. "The focus as always is on the process. I am confident that I will have another good ICC tournament."

Dhawan, also the quickest to 1000 runs ICC ODI tournament history, is part of arguably the most dominant ODI opening pair in recent years, with Rohit Sharma, a partnership of a stature similar to what he used to share with David Warner at Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL. Ahead of the 2019 season, though, Dhawan was traded to Delhi Capitals where, as a senior player, he was expected to play more of a lead role than a complementary one. Like most challenges he's had in limited-overs cricket, Dhawan came through, finishing fourth on the run-scorers' list.

The presence of Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly in the Capitals' leadership as he navigated this new, more aggressive, role helped. "Both Ricky and Dada were successful international captains because they had the ability to create champions. Obviously their experience helps." Dhawan said. "They told me that there is no problem with my technique.

"Mera jazbaa aaj bhi utni hi hai [My passion is still the same as it was when I started]. I have shut out negativity, primarily because I am a happy-go-lucky person.

"Before I made my Test debut, I had played nearly nine years of first-class cricket. Had I not been passionate and hungry, I couldn't have performed for India after nine years of domestic cricket. Now I have played six years of international cricket. It has been a great journey."

Innings Ireland 292 for 8 (Stirling 130, Porterfield 94, Jayed 5-58) v Bangladesh

Paul Stirling's eighth ODI century helped Ireland to 292 for 8 in 50 overs, a stern test for an experimental Bangladesh line-up. Stirling made 130 off 141 balls as he played the role of the enforcer through the first Powerplay, controlled the scoring in the middle overs and then again went after the bowling at the death. The only man to resist Ireland was Abu Jayed, who took 5 for 58 in his second ODI.

Stirling, who was Jayed's fourth wicket in the 47th over, was helped on the way by captain William Porterfield, whose 94 was his first half-century since March 2018. They added 174 in a record third-wicket stand for Ireland. It was a pivotal stand that took the home side to the above-average total.

Bangladesh also contributed to Ireland's big score by dropping Stirling twice off successive balls at the start of the third-wicket stand. They had also picked Liton Das, Mosaddek Hossain and Rubel Hossain to have a final look at their form and fitness before the World Cup, although Jayed stood out; he is the first Bangladesh pace bowler to take a five-for in ODIs since November 2015.

It was, however, Rubel who gave Bangladesh the first breakthrough, when he forced James McCollum to be caught at slip one ball after Stirling had slammed him for a huge six over long-on, in the fourth over.

Andrew Balbirnie struck four boundaries early in his innings, taking off from where he had finished during his 135 against West Indies in the previous game, but just when he had unfurled a beautiful shot off Abu Jayed, the seamer had him strangled down the leg side, Mushfiqur completing the grab. But replays were not conclusive, and Balbirnie looked distraught.

But Stirling, who had struck two fours and two sixes till that point, didn't let Bangladesh settle down as he reached a second consecutive fifty. Soon afterwards, he was dropped twice in consecutive balls too, on 57 and 58, when Sabbir Rahman, racing in from long-off, couldn't hold on to an inside-out drive. Next ball, Mohammad Saifuddin dropped a sitter at point off Shakib.

Porterfield, going through his own demons, then took a liking to Shakib, as he struck him for a boundary in each of his next four overs. But it wasn't until Stirling reached his century, in the 42nd over, did they go after Bangladesh's bowling.

Porterfield cracked Mashrafe for two big sixes over midwicket, and a four through cover, in the 43rd over, before slapping Jayed straight down sweeper cover's throat in the 45th over, six short of his century. Jayed had removed Kevin O'Brien earlier in the over, before getting Gary Wilson's wicket to complete his five-wicket haul.

Saifuddin, having recovered from a slight back injury, took two wickets in the last over as Ireland couldn't quite reach the 300-run mark, which would have given them a psychological boost. But the 98 runs the hosts picked up in the last ten overs would keep the momentum with them.

Legspinner Shadab Khan was left tense and frustrated after learning that he was suffering from hepatitis, two days after being picked for the Pakistan squads for the tour of England and the World Cup.

A blood test had revealed Shadab was suffering from hepatitis, and was subsequently replaced by Yasir Shah in the squad for the England series, while the PCB arranged an appointment with a London-based gastroenterology and hepatology specialist. While Shadab recovered from the viral infection over the last month, his health was still a concern, with his chances of playing the World Cup at risk. But now he has been declared fit and is set to join the squad after the England series.

"When you suddenly get to know that you have a viral [infection] in your blood, naturally I got frustrated but my team-mates and friends have been very supportive," Shadab said. "I have a strong belief that whatever happens, happens for a reason and for good. I was tensed up on the first day but then I told my friends that whatever happened was in the past. If anything good is to happen, it will happen. So I asked them to avoid talking to me about it."

Shadab was given a two-week course of medication and was prescribed complete rest. He was declared fit after undergoing another round of blood tests in Lahore earlier this week and is set to leave for England soon.

"I was always hopeful because the viral infection was found at its initial stage," Shadab said. "With two weeks of medication, it's out of my blood. Now I am heading to the World Cup. We [Pakistan] have been going there [to England] regularly over the last three years so it isn't really difficult to acclimatise. All I have to do is to get in my rhythm otherwise I am mentally prepared for the challenge."

Shadab has been Pakistan's key strike bowler in the middle overs for the last two years, and his return is a boost for the side. His replacement, Yasir, hasn't made an impact as Pakistan have struggled with their bowling in the ongoing ODI series against England. Yasir's ODI form has been a far cry from the quality that has marked him out as an elite Test bowler, and he was left out of the third ODI against England on Tuesday after conceding 60 runs in seven overs during the second ODI in Southampton last week.

Pakistan have taken only seven England wickets in the last two ODIs, after the first match was washed out. The hosts scored 373 in the second ODI and on Tuesday, chased down 359 with 31 balls and six wickets to spare. Shadab who has a knack of picking wickets in the middle overs, believes the Pakistan bowlers are not in rhythm.

"Nowadays you have to take wickets because cricket has become very fast and even 350 isn't a par score," Shadab said, reflecting on Pakistan's performance in England so far. "Yes we have been struggling with the ball in the middle overs, but the way the batting is performing is a good sign. No doubt we lost the games but we put up a good fight and played competitive cricket, which gives a lot of boost to the team. Pakistan, anyway, still have the ability to win the remaining games.

"I have already played in a competitive tournament, in the 2017 Champions Trophy, which we won. Victory indeed has its own taste. Even though we lost a few games, I know how to adapt in a big tournament. Our team has 100% skills to do well in the World Cup. Yes, they are struggling but so are the other teams in many ways. They are playing good cricket overall. Yes, the bowlers are not doing well, they are actually not in the rhythm required but once they start clicking, we will start winning the games. Overall, when you are missing four key players [Shadab, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik] it becomes increasingly tough. But there is a difference between pressure for a series and the World Cup, so I am optimistic about our chances there and we will try to win the World Cup."

England, 2-0 up in the five-match ODI series against Pakistan after three games, will be without Eoin Morgan when they take the field at Trent Bridge to try and wrap up the series, after their captain was suspended for one match for the team's slow over-rate in the third ODI in Bristol.

After batting first in Bristol, Pakistan finished on 358 for 9 and England crossed the mark with 31 balls remaining for a six-wicket win. After the game, England were deemed to be two overs short after time allowances were taken into consideration, and match referee Richie Richardson, in accordance with Article 2.22.1 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players, imposed the sanction.

Morgan had been found guilty of a similar offence during the Barbados ODI against West Indies on February 22, and since this was the second such infraction within a 12-month period, he had to accept the ban as well as a fine of 40% of his match fee. The other members of the playing XI had to cough up 20% of their fees too.

Jonny Bairstow, the Man of the Match for his 93-ball 128 in the chase, was also pulled up after the match. Paul Reiffel and Michael Gough, the on-field umpires for the game, and Chris Gaffaney, the third umpire, charged him with misconduct.

Bairstow, after he was dismissed in the 29th over of the England innings, struck the stumps with his bat, and therefore breached Article 2.2 of the ICC Code, which relates to "abuse of cricket equipment or clothing, ground equipment or fixtures and fittings during an international match".

One demerit point has been added to Bairstow's disciplinary record - it was his first offence since the introduction of the revised Code in September 2016.

The fourth ODI will be played on Friday, and the final game is scheduled for Headingley on May 19.

CHICAGO -- Holy smokes. What a wild lottery. That may have been the wildest lottery ever. The NBA's new smoothed lottery odds raised the possibility of teams leaping from the middle toward the top, and boy howdy was there some leapin' on Tuesday in Chicago.

Here's how it went down from inside the locked-down drawing room, where the real lottery takes place about an hour before the television reveal.

• In all my years in the drawing room -- and I'm becoming the Elgin Baylor of that room at this point -- the loudest display of emotion I had seen was in 2012 from Dell Demps, then the general manager of the New Orleans Pelicans, when New Orleans won the Anthony Davis lottery. Demps pumped his fist under a table and stifled one celebratory grunt.

Seven years later, with Davis hovering over the lottery in a very different way, Alvin Gentry, the Pelicans' coach and drawing room representative, threw all decorum out the window when the fourth pingpong ball drawn (numbered 13) completed a four-number combination that belonged to New Orleans.

Gentry rose from his chair. "F---, yeah!" he exclaimed. He raised his arms in celebration, and even turned to high-five six rival team representatives behind and around him. They reciprocated. "Sorry, sorry," Gentry said to the room as he sat back down and the drawing continued for the second, third and fourth picks.

He didn't need to apologize. Almost everyone in the room was smiling along with him. Gentry has always been popular, but the Davis debacle turned him into a more sympathetic figure. Most of the people in that room were happy for him.

• After the lottery ended, Gentry approached the dozen reporters in the room and offered another wink-wink apology. "Sorry, guys," he said. "Not really."

• Gentry wore a black tie with silver-gray striping. It was his good-luck charm. David Griffin, New Orleans' new executive vice president of basketball operations, gave it to Gentry. Griffin was a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers' front office during a stretch in which the Cavs won three lotteries in four years, from 2011 to 2014. Each time, a man named Jeff Cohen -- a former vice chair for the Cavs and confidant of owner Dan Gilbert -- represented the team in the drawing room.

I began referring to Cohen as a warlock. Gilbert and Cohen had some sort of falling out, and the Cavs have not had him in the room in either of the past two lotteries. (Cleveland owned Brooklyn's pick a year ago.) I half-jokingly said the Cavs had cursed themselves.

And then Gentry revealed the ultimate plot twist: The tie Gentry wore Tuesday was the same one Cohen wore in each of those three lottery wins. Griffin had phoned Cohen and asked for a good-luck charm in the lead-up to the lottery, he told ESPN.com in the aftermath Tuesday. Cohen scoffed at the idea that any trinket could win the favor of the lottery gods. Griffin asked if he might please send the tie. Cohen did. Griffin passed it on to Gentry.

Put Jeff Cohen and his damned tie in the Hall of Fame. Gentry said he is going to frame the tie and the lottery balls, and hang it in the Pelicans' practice facility.

• Upstairs in the ballroom, Griffin saw Celtics assistant GM Mike Zarren, embraced him and screamed, "What did I tell you?" In the leaguewide general managers meeting earlier that day, Griffin apparently told everyone New Orleans would win the lottery. "I've already seen it," Griffin recalled announcing to the room. "We're winning this thing."

This is exactly the sort of borderline spiritual language Griffin used when his Cavaliers trailed the Warriors 3-1 in the 2016 NBA Finals. He insisted that the Cavaliers were going to rally and win. If you looked at him funny, Griffin just stared back at you, dead serious.

Between Griffin, Cohen and Cohen's tie, I'm starting to believe in some real mystical stuff. I'm a little scared. I also worry that in excising all three, the Cavaliers will suffer years of self-inflicted bad luck.

• Speaking of Tuesday's GMs meeting: Multiple sources say the liveliest topic of discussion centered around the possibility of implementing a coach's challenge at some point soon. Some in the room favored a more limited challenge system focused on black-and-white rulings: out-of-bounds plays, goaltending, and the like -- but not fouls. Others argued coaches should be able to challenge foul calls.

The league would likely favor the more restricted concept, if anything. Allowing coaches to challenge fouls is something of a Pandora's box. Should they be able to challenge non-calls, too? There was also discussion of whether a challenge should cost a team one timeout regardless of whether the coach "wins" or "loses" the challenge. Some in the room were wary of coaches using the challenge to create an extra timeout. Also: What if a team is out of timeouts?

There is a lot to determine, but accounts of the depth of the discussion suggest this concept has some new momentum.

• Also discussed, per sources: stationing a "replay official" at the scorer's table who could make some determinations (was that shot a 2-pointer or a 3-pointer?) without stopping play, and flag other plays right away so that referees would not have to huddle up and decide whether to trigger review. Thumbs up!

• Back to the lottery: How crazy is it that we spent the past two months wondering how the lottery would impact the Davis trade sweepstakes, only for Davis' actual team to win the lottery? You cannot make this up.

"We're going to get a great player," Gentry told ESPN.com after the drawing. "We have something to sell."

I asked: You mean sell to Davis? "To Anthony and our fans," Gentry said. "Everyone forgets he's still a part of our roster."

• Griffin echoed that during a brief chat with ESPN.com after the televised reveal. "We can be Oklahoma City with Paul George," he said. "We can hold onto [Davis] and let him see what we really are. [Winning the lottery] changes how quickly he can buy into it. It gets us closer. Every day, maybe he believes a little more. As much as elite talent likes to play with elite talent, I can't imagine any elite player in his prime looking at our situation and saying to himself, 'There's a better grouping to play for' than ours."

We'll see. Several reports late Tuesday suggested Davis had not changed his stance post-lottery. Griffin has to create the perception of leverage. But it's not crazy to suggest that the Pelicans could build something very interesting -- and lasting -- around Davis, Jrue Holiday, Zion Williamson and a couple of other young pieces. If they trade Davis for another top-four pick in this draft -- more on that later -- building around two top-five picks in the same draft is kind of cool.

• The first three balls drawn on the winning combination were numbers 7, 4, and 12. The worst teams -- New York, Phoenix, and Cleveland -- owned 420 of the 1,000 four-number combinations, and most of the combos featuring 1s, 2s, and 3s. There is real suspense in the air when the first three numbers drawn are 4 or higher. For 10 delicious seconds -- and exactly 10 by league rule -- a lot of teams are in play.

Gentry knew the Pelicans had a shot. "Oh, s---," he thought to himself after that 12 came up, he told ESPN.com. Tommy Sheppard, the Wizards' top executive since the team fired Ernie Grunfeld, also felt butterflies, he told ESPN.com afterward. The Wizards owned a few combinations featuring 4, 7, and 12. For a moment, Sheppard let himself envision Washington erasing a year of rotten feelings. "Of course you do that," Sheppard said. "But then you remember this is like bingo. You can't control anything."

And then Kiki VanDeWeghe, the NBA's executive vice president of basketball operations, announced the number on the last ball: 13. Gentry rifled through the eight-page printout listing all the combinations to see if New Orleans owned 4-7-12-13. It was taking too long. He gave up and waited. An NBA attorney proclaimed that New Orleans had won the No. 1 pick.

• Maybe the most fun part of the drawing room experience is watching the TV show knowing the results. When ESPN cut to the bar of New York fans celebrating that the Knicks had cracked the top four, everyone either chuckled or winced. If only they knew the letdown that was coming.

As the Pelicans' big TV moment approached, Sheppard declared to the room that Gentry had to re-enact his "F---, yeah!" moment. Gentry announced that he was "feeling good again" even though he already knew the results. When ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reminded television viewers that Davis was still a Pelican, and that Griffin would fight to keep him, Gentry bellowed, "Thank you!"

• It's strange to declare the Knicks slight "losers" for landing at No. 3 and the Lakers "winners" for rising from No. 11 to No. 4, but that assessment is correct. For all their flaws -- and perhaps too much has been made of those flaws considering the players' age -- the Lakers' young players have more combined trade value than Kevin Knox, Frank Ntilikina, Dennis Smith Jr. and Mitchell Robinson. (Does Robinson have the most trade value of those four guys? He might. He had the best 2018-19 season among them.)

The No. 3 pick in this draft plus all of those guys does not carry the same appeal as the No. 4 pick plus Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart and Kyle Kuzma. I'm not sure the two Dallas future first-round picks the Knicks received in the Kristaps Porzingis deal tilt the equation in their favor; the Lakers can add their own first-round picks into any Davis package. If the Davis sweepstakes still happens, the Lakers probably come out of the lottery ahead of Knicks.

Some in the league wonder if the Pelicans' ownership and the New Orleans Saints officials who once had so much influence might still hold some grudge against the Lakers. Maybe. The door is slightly ajar for a surprise Davis suitor beyond the Lakers, Knicks and Celtics. But Gayle Benson has empowered Griffin, and the bet here is that Griffin will push for the best deal -- if a deal happens -- without much regard to the destination.

• Rob Pelinka, the Lakers' GM and drawing room rep, was candid in a post-lottery chat with ESPN.com about the team's urgency to improve immediately -- and how the No. 4 pick might play into that. "We are coming off a very tough season," Pelinka said. "We are going to do all we can to increase our chances to win next year. This pick is a powerful asset. We'll be methodical with the options of either selecting the right player or using it another way to get better."

• Pelinka of course cannot say the words "Anthony Davis." He's also well aware that the Lakers' brain trust -- him, Jeanie Buss, Linda Rambis, Kurt Rambis -- is taking a public beating. (That beating is deserved, by the way.) "The important thing in the eye of the storm is to keep your mind on doing your work excellently and not getting caught up in public opinion," Pelinka said.

• The Mike Conley sweepstakes has to be back on with Memphis in position to draft Ja Morant after jumping from No. 8 to No. 2. Trading Conley would hurt the 2019-20 Grizzlies, which makes Boston an indirect winner on at least one lottery front. With Memphis keeping its pick this season, its obligation to Boston now rolls over to next season with looser protections: The Grizzlies owe their next first-rounder to Boston with top-six protection in 2020, and then (if necessary) with no protection at all in 2021.

If Memphis goes into full rebuild, that pick increases in value.

• The sort of jumps New Orleans, Memphis and the Lakers made Tuesday -- and the connected drops of the league's very worst teams -- were precisely what the NBA intended, or at least what it conceded to as a possibility, when it tweaked the lottery rules for this year. There is less benefit to being abjectly terrible.

Some league officials braced themselves Tuesday for something of a backlash: Have we gone too far? Meh. This is what happens when you disincentivize finishing at the very bottom, and incrementally bump up the incentives for finishing in the middle of the lottery order. The tweaks didn't really even change team behavior that much. Three teams still tanked their way to fewer than 20 wins. Tuesday's results could even inspire more last-minute jostling for position in the middle of the lottery next season.

"One year doesn't tell the whole story," VanDeWeghe told ESPN.com after the lottery. "But the intent was to make it a little more random. It certainly doesn't solve everything, but I think it was a good move by the Board of Governors."

• Another possible consequence of Tuesday: Teams might be even more reluctant to trade potential lottery picks, and haggle even harder about the specific protections on them. After seeing these colossal jumps, will every borderline playoff team hunting a win-now move insist on top-four protection for its draft pick? That could chill the trade market a bit.

• One Eastern Conference executive in the drawing room Tuesday: "Three out of the first four out West? If it's not us, I'm at least glad it went that way."

• More trinkets from the lottery room! Zarren brought a Hoyo de Monterrey cigar -- Red Auerbach's preferred brand, apparently. Mike Gansey, Cleveland's assistant GM, brought nothing. I'm telling you, the Cavs are going to suffer the Cohen Curse. Pelinka brought "optimism," because his 11-year-old son, Durham, is an "eternal optimist" and told Pelinka optimism was all he needed, Pelinka told ESPN.com.

Zach Kleiman, Memphis' new executive vice president of basketball operations, brought an engraved watch his late mother gave to him in 2009.

No one could compete with Ian Hillman, the Sixers' vice president of strategy. Philly entered the night with a 1 percent chance at winning the No. 1 pick -- the last remnant of a laughably lopsided 2015 trade with the Kings. Hillman wore a "Simmons-Embiid" mock presidential campaign T-shirt underneath his dress shirt -- the same outfit choice he made for his job interview with the Sixers.

In an envelope, he carried several coins from 1963, the year the Sixers franchise moved to Philadelphia. He added a special edition South Carolina state quarter from 2000 -- the state in which Williamson grew up and the year he was born. He even had an Australian coin from 1996 -- the year Ben Simmons was born.

"When you have a 1 percent chance, you need as many lucky charms as you can bring," Hillman said.

• Even the timekeeper monitoring the 10-second intervals between the drawing of each ball -- Micah Day, the NBA's director of event management -- has a superstition: He uses the same red stopwatch every year.

• Upgrade alert: The NBA now has a backup pingpong ball machine in case the real machine malfunctions. The NBA's contingency plan until this season: stuff the 14 pingpong balls into a basketball with a hole cut into the top. I swear, that is a real thing. League officials on hand told me that even with the backup machine, that carved-up basketball remains Plan C in case of a power outage and/or double malfunction. One day, people. One day.

• The league keeps the pingpong balls in a black briefcase secured with one of those plastic zip ties. When an NBA official cracked that bad boy open, it almost had the drama of Vincent Vega opening the briefcase in "Pulp Fiction."

• Touching moment in the drawing room: Hillman, of the Sixers, and Andy Elisburg, the Heat's senior vice president and general manager, discussing the pain of being on the wrong end of historic shots. Hillman confided that he was still not over the Kawhi Leonard Game 7 buzzer-beater. Elisburg warned Hillman he would never be over it. Elisburg told Hillman he can still remember exactly where he was (and many other details from) the moment Allan Houston hit the rim-backboard-in floater that won Game 5 of the 1999 first-round series between the Knicks and Elisburg's Heat.

• Actor Jami Gertz, wife of Hawks owner Tony Ressler, has started a new tradition of eating a piece of chocolate cake from the same Chicago restaurant -- the RL Restaurant, i.e., the Ralph Lauren restaurant -- the day of the lottery. In related news, Jami Gertz is an absolute delight. Also: Ralph Lauren has a restaurant? Another thing I learned walking to a meeting in Chicago today: Weber Grill has a restaurant here with a giant red grill sticking out of the facade. What?

See you next year unless the NBA bans me!

Texas Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus left with tightness in his right hamstring after grounding out to end the seventh inning against the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night.

He will be evaluated again Wednesday in another blow to a team that has lost five straight to fall a season-worst five games below .500. The Rangers and Royals next play Wednesday at 8:15 p.m. ET on ESPN+.

Also, Rangers left-hander Cole Ragans, the team's first-round pick in the 2016 draft, will need a second Tommy John surgery after tearing his ulnar collateral ligament. The 21-year-old Ragans was close to pitching in a game for the first time since his last surgery when he began feeling discomfort about a week ago.

"It's obviously concerning,'' Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said, adding that the surgery will be Wednesday. "This is the first Tommy John surgery we've had that's failed.''

The Associated Press contributed to this report.