The NBA Draft was a night (and day) to remember with all the trades and selections that were made. You never know which move could alter the future of the NBA landscape.

Draft festivities really kicked off with the Boston Celtics' trade to acquire Kristaps Porzingis from the Washington Wizards while sending Marcus Smart to the Memphis Grizzlies. The pre-draft transactions continued with the Chris Paul-Jordan Poole swap, and things came to a close when the draft finally ended.

The busy day of draft picks and trades mean there were big winners as well as some big losers.

Let's take a look.

Biggest Winners

San Antonio Spurs

Truthfully, the San Antonio Spurs were big winners as soon as the NBA Draft Lottery happened.

The opportunity to select a franchise-altering player like Victor Wembanyama is going to be a huge positive for any team, and the Spurs taking Wemby first overall makes them one of Thursday's clear winners.

Wembanyama has been called the best prospect since LeBron James. Pretty great company, I'd say. Fox Sports' Chris Broussard went as far as saying that the ceiling for Wembanyama is the G.O.A.T. "The ceiling, there is none," Broussard said on First Things First on June 21. "Ceiling is G.O.A.T."

There have been comparisons to Kevin Durant and some even suggesting Wembanyama's floor is that of a perennial All-Star such as Anthony Davis.

The praise of the French League MVP is fitting, and while he'll have to show it on the court, there may have not been a better combination of player and organization than Wembanyama and the Spurs. Whatever his career becomes remains to be seen, but for now, the Spurs get a player they can build around as they look to get back to being an annual contender.

Houston Rockets

The Houston Rockets kicked off their night by selecting guard Amen Thompson to join the young core of Jalen Green, Kevin Porter Jr. and Alperen Sengun. That alone would have been enough to consider the Rockets winners on the night as they prepare for the upcoming season with new head coach Ime Udoka leading the way.

But then they managed to get a top-10 projected talent at No. 20 in Villanova's Cam Whitmore.

According to ESPN's Jeremy Woo, the slide of Whitmore from lottery selection to 20th overall came due to "a palpable trepidation surrounding his medicals." Whether or not Whitmore goes on to become a star in the league, the Rockets look like winners here by taking the gamble on Whitmore's potential.

Adding Thompson and Whitmore to their young core sets up Houston for an exciting future and kicks their rebuild up a notch. If things break Houston's way, they could be a force in the West down the road.

Oklahoma City Thunder

Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti has an eye for talent -- that's rarely been up for debate. So when he goes out of his way to take on the contract of Davis Bertans from the Dallas Mavericks to get guard Cason Wallace, you should take notice.

"All of the hard things that people don’t want to do when it comes to playing basketball, he does naturally,” Presti said when talking about Wallace.

The fruits of OKC's rebuild really started to show last season as the Thunder nearly made the playoffs before losing in the play-in tournament. They have a lot of pieces in place, and Wallace only adds to that.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has become a bonafide superstar, and OKC will get to deploy the 2022 second overall selection, Chet Holmgren, this next campaign.

Wallace has room to grow and won't need to fill a huge role immediately while still offering a defensive presence that will help the Thunder this season and beyond. There's a lot to like for the Thunder heading into the 2023-24 campaign.

Biggest Losers

Damian Lillard

It's been commendable that Damian Lillard has been so determined to win as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers, continuously opting to stay with them to try to bring Portland a championship instead of asking for a trade.

However, it feels like it comes back to bite him more often than not -- and it did in the NBA Draft.

The Trail Blazers selected Scoot Henderson third overall. While Scoot may wind up being a star in a few years, he might not be ready to be a key cog right away, which doesn't help Lillard, who, at 32, doesn't have many prime years left.

Portland could have opted to use the pick to make a trade for a more win-now piece to maximize Dame's prime. Instead, Lillard will now have to hope that the high-energy Henderson can walk in on Day 1 and help get Portland back to the NBA playoffs. That's a big ask for any rookie -- even one as talented as Scoot is.

Washington Wizards

The Wizards finished their whirlwind of events Thursday by trading up one spot to select forward Bilal Coulibaly, a player from France who looks to be something of a long-term project. But it's not just Coulibaly who is worth discussing here.

Washington's nonstop moves over the last few weeks resulted in finally moving Bradley Beal, which got them first-round pick swaps and five second-round picks along with Chris Paul and Landry Shamet. Paul was then flipped to the Golden State Warriors for Jordan Poole. They, of course, also moved Kristaps Porzingis to the Celtics as part of a three-team trade that got them Tyus Jones, Danilo Gallinari, Mike Muscala, and a draft pick that they wound up trading later in the night.

This isn't to say that going from Paul, an aging player near the end of his career, to Poole is a bad thing. But it is to say that the Wiz held out on Beal for so long just to end up in a rebuild that they could have started a couple of seasons ago -- and would've likely gotten more for Beal if they moved him back then. Beal has lost some value since scoring 31.5 points per game in the 2020-21 season.

The Wizards are going to be building for a long time, and while finally accepting that this was their future was an important decision, they're going to be a bad team. It'll certainly help if Coulibaly can develop sooner rather than later.

Charlotte Hornets

The Michael Jordan era of the Charlotte Hornets is coming to an end -- but not without one final top-three selection.

Brandon Miller has all the makings to be a good player, even a great player. The forward who called Paul George the greatest of all time has the skillset to become a George-like player, but Scoot Henderson may have been the better option as a swing-for-the-fences pick who could give the Hornets a superstar in a couple of seasons.

By taking Miller, the Hornets showed commitment to LaMelo Ball as he and Miller fit better than LaMelo and Scoot likely would have. But Henderson might end up being a better franchise piece than Ball, who is a shoddy defender and whose 51.0% effective field goal percentage last season was the 17th-worst among qualified NBA players who averaged 30.0 minutes per game last year.

Time will tell if Miller or Scoot was the way to go, but if Scoot -- a truly dynamic athlete -- is able to improve his jumper, Charlotte may rue passing on him.

The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author’s advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.