Call it karma or the basketball gods at work, but you have to admit that something was at work with the way the NBA Lottery went down Tuesday night.

Let the big market crying begin.

The New Orleans Pelicans, by the far the smallest media market in the NBA, beat the 6 percent odds they had and won the first pick in the upcoming draft. Everyone was talking about New York and Los Angeles being the most desirable and  necessary landing spot for Zion Williamson, but that didn’t happen.

Oops, sorry about that.

After the hosing the Saints took during the NFL playoffs, you’d think that their owner might take a little satisfaction in what happened Tuesday to the next-door neighbor Pelicans, except for the fact that the Pelicans owner IS the Saints owner (Gayle Benson).

It’s great for the Pelicans who, though no fault of their own, got dragged into an absolute mess with the Anthony Davis saga during the year. Davis had a 1 1/2 years left on his contract, but tried to force a trade to Los Angeles and basically wrecked the seasons of two franchises. The Lakers deserved it; the Pelicans didn’t.

But the best part of it all was seeing the reaction of the Knicks’ fans (and media apologists) who thought it was their God-given to have the rights to Williamson. Because why? Because they have been such a well-oiled machine? Because they know how to run a franchise better than anybody else? Might we just point out that the Pelicans have won twice as many playoff series this century than the Knicks have?

Nor should anybody feels sorry for the tanking teams in the NBA teams who cheated their ticket-buying fans by mailing it in, some for the entire year. The teams with the six poorest records all saw their draft position worsen after the ping-pong balls finally dropped.

As they say, be careful what you wish for.