Lottery luck hasn’t been on Hornets’ side. Will that finally change with Victor Wembanyama?

Before Mark Williams steps onto the dais Tuesday night, representing the Charlotte Hornets in one of the most anticipated events in NBA history, it would be wise to ensure he is wearing something with several deep pockets.

Given the franchise’s seemingly never-ending stroke of disappointments in the NBA draft lottery over the years, Williams may want to have as much room as possible to stuff any lucky trinket he can find into his tailored suit. Rabbit’s feet. Horseshoes. Four-leaf clovers. Newfound coins plucked off the ground because they were showing heads.

Even a salt shaker to toss some over his shoulder in a blink.

Anything to push the Hornets’ 12.5% chance of winning this year’s draft lottery to the max, allowing them to leapfrog Detroit, Houston and San Antonio — the teams with the 14% odds to collect the top selection.

If there was ever a time for the Hornets’ lottery luck to change, this is it. Victor Wembanyama, the French phenom, is the most coveted No. 1 pick since LeBron James in 2003 and there’s little doubt the interest in the 19-year-old’s skills will inject life into whatever organization he lands with.

Want to feel old? Wembanyama wasn’t even alive when the Hornets last won the lottery and Color Me Badd had the No. 2 song on the Billboard charts. It’s been that long.

Three decades have passed since the Hornets selected Larry Johnson in 1991, the year Charlotte had the fifth-best odds to nab the first overall pick and overcame them to draft one of the franchise’s most popular players. Just think about what it would mean to finally be able to choose the best prospect and team Wembanyama with LaMelo Ball.

On the court, you’d have a sensationally-talented duo with a mean age of 20. Do it right and the pieces are there to construct around until at least 2030. Off the floor, undoubtedly, it would be international gold, and the cash registers will ring from Tryon Street to the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris.

While it couldn’t be quite enough to soften the frustrations of 2012, when the then-Bobcats didn’t get the No. 1 pick after a brutal 7-59 campaign, it would be a start. Nothing can erase losing out the chance to draft Anthony Davis and instead selecting second, taking Davis’ teammate at Kentucky, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist — a painful memory to Charlotte fans to this day.

That’s why the Hornets are better off thinking about what happened in 1999, the year they moved into the top three despite having a less than a one percent chance of doing so. That 10-spot jump remains tied for the largest improvement in lottery position in NBA history.

Don’t forget the Hornets also most recently overcoming the odds in 2020, when they vaulted five spots up to No. 3, allowing them to draft Ball. They can only hope for something similar this year when the positions are revealed.

For those unfamiliar with the process, the actual lottery is held prior to the broadcast in a separate room where league officials, team representatives, select media members and the accounting firm of Ernst & Young witness the drawing. A total of 14 ping-pong balls numbered 1-14 are placed in the machine and there are 1,001 possible combinations when four balls are drawn out of 14, without regard to their order of selection.

If the Hornets land in the all-too-familiar spot of not securing the top overall selection, yet still are within the upper reaches of the draft board, they could be in position to nab one of the other intriguing talents jockeying behind Wembanyama. Such as Scoot Henderson, a 6-foot-2 point guard who played for the G League Unite. Henderson participated in the NBA’s All-Star weekend for the second straight year, fueled by a season in which he put up 18.3 points, 6.7 assists and 4.8 rebounds per game.

Brandon Miller, a 6-9 small forward who spent one season with Alabama, is another possibility. The Southeastern Conference’s player of the year averaged 19.6 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game, and features a quick release. He appears to be best wing player in the draft and that is an area of need for the Hornets.

Of course, neither Henderson nor Miller have the same type of hype train driving them like Wembanyama. But that doesn’t mean those two — or any other player the Hornets select — can’t be major contributors and provide enough impact for a franchise that has to build through the draft.

Still, for a few more hours, the Hornets can dream before learning whether they actually beat the odds for once.

How to watch

▪ Where: McCormick Place, Chicago

▪ Date: Tuesday, May 16

▪ Time: 8 p.m. ET

▪ TV: ESPN