The greatest moment of Wednesday night’s NBA Draft, televised by ESPN, wasn’t supplied by a guard or a forward, a center or a coach. Instead, it was furnished by a broadcaster whose mouth was fresher than his brand-new burnt-orange hair dye job.

Midway through the first round, Dan Patrick, the point man on ESPN’s excellent draft coverage, said, “Here’s the commissioner with that pick.”

The camera flashed to an empty podium, at which point Patrick cracked, “Apparently, the commissioner is playing peekaboo with us.”

Seconds later, NBA commissioner David Stern appeared at the podium sporting as irritated an expression as most Knicks fans showed at the Garden later in the round when Isiah Thomas blundered yet again.

“Dan, I was sitting in the back listening to your pithy comments, wondering whether you were going to ever say something nice about one of our draft picks,” Stern said.

Smiling on the outside, Patrick exacted revenge immediately and won the exchange easily.

“I always liked commissioner Tagliabue better,” Patrick said.

Good stuff, and symbolic of ESPN’s evolution from a network that used to be all chummy all the time with athletes, coaches and league executives. Things are changing in that regard. Broadcasters now are schooled by veteran sports journalists to make sure they no longer gloss over controversial issues and no longer do things like use the term “allegedly” when discussing athletes who have been convicted of crimes. With any luck, the days of Barry Bonds hitting a big home run and circling the bases without the word “steroids” being uttered in the booth are over.

Anyway, it was refreshing to see Patrick stick it to the commissioner. Overall, though, Jay Bilas was the star of the night, yet again. For one thing, Bilas never does Duke’s bidding, even though he played there for Coach K. When Shelden Williams was selected, Bilas said he had Villanova’s Randy Foye and Washington’s Brandon Roy rated ahead of Williams.

Ask Bilas to name the best college basketball atmosphere, and he’ll answer Allen Fieldhouse, not Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Bilas backs up his opinions with insight and knowledge in a way that makes it clear he didn’t stop doing his homework when he received his degree from Duke. And he doesn’t hold back.

“He couldn’t guard a bank with a machine gun, but who cares?” Bilas said of Adam Morrison. “He has big-time player written all over him because of his ability to score.”

Here’s what Bilas had to say about Renaldo Balkman, the South Carolina forward selected by the Knicks when UConn point guard Marcus Williams, among others, was available: “I’m stunned. Frankly, I’m stunned. Frankly, Renaldo Balkman’s a second-round talent. … You’re talking about an undersized interior player. … He’s a guy who averaged under 10 points per game. This to me is a stunner. This is a second-round basketball player. Second round. Nobody else would have taken him in the first round.”

Bilas on No. 1 pick Andrea Bargnani, the forward from Italy: “He doesn’t rebound, doesn’t post up, doesn’t get to the free-throw line.”

Which is why Morrison should have been the first pick, not the third.