I ranked the best player ever taken at each NBA draft slot from 60 to 1. I weighed peak, longevity, and playoff impact, with NBA careers carrying the most weight. International and ABA accomplishments can tip a close call.

Some picks are easy. Then you get to No. 5 and have to choose between KG, Barkley, Wade, Pippen, and Ray Allen.

Picks 60–51

Michael Cooper — Five championships, a Defensive Player of the Year award, and eight All-Defensive selections.Honourable mentions: Dražen Petrović, Isaiah Thomas.59. Pat Cummings — A 12-season NBA career from the 59th pick.Honourable mention: Jimmy Black.58. Kurt Rambis — A four-time champion and a recognizable part of the Showtime Lakers.57. Manu Ginóbili — Four NBA titles, Olympic gold, a EuroLeague title, and a spot in the Hall of Fame. One of the greatest draft steals ever.56. Luis Scola — A productive NBA big whose international career with Argentina gives him the edge here.Honourable mentions: Amir Johnson, Ramon Sessions.55. Patty Mills — An NBA champion, longtime Spurs guard, and the leader of Australia’s first Olympic men’s basketball medal team.Honourable mentions: E’Twaun Moore, Aaron Wiggins.54. Sam Mitchell — Carved out a 13-season NBA career after going 54th.53. Anthony Mason — An All-Star, Sixth Man of the Year, and All-NBA forward who could defend, rebound, and run the offense from the frontcourt.Honourable mention: Rasual Butler.52. Fred Hoiberg — Played 10 NBA seasons and led the league in three-point percentage in his final year.51. Kyle Korver — An All-Star and one of the best movement shooters of his generation.

Picks 50–41

Steve Kerr — Five championships as a player and one of the most accurate three-point shooters ever.49. Eddie Johnson — The Atlanta Hawks guard was a two-time All-Star and made two All-Defensive teams.48. Marc Gasol — A champion, Defensive Player of the Year, three-time All-Star, and All-NBA First Team center.Honourable mention: Cedric Ceballos.47. Paul Millsap — Four All-Star selections and years of reliable two-way play.Honourable mentions: Mo Williams, Vernon Maxwell.46. Jeff Hornacek — An All-Star and excellent shooter who gave those Utah Finals teams another creator alongside Stockton and Malone.Honourable mention: Danny Green.45. Bob Dandridge — A Hall of Famer, four-time All-Star, and champion with both Milwaukee and Washington.Honourable mention: Antonio Davis.44. Malik Rose — A dependable rotation big who won two titles with San Antonio.43. Michael Redd — An All-Star and All-NBA scorer with one of the smoothest left-handed jumpers of his era.Honourable mention: Trevor Ariza.42. Stephen Jackson — A champion with San Antonio and a legit scoring option in his prime.Honourable mentions: Patrick Beverley, Zaza Pachulia.41. Nikola Jokić — Three MVPs, a championship, and a Finals MVP. You could make a list of the best picks at every spot and still have a separate debate about whether this is the greatest draft steal ever.

Picks 40–31

George Gervin — A Hall of Famer, nine-time NBA All-Star, and four-time NBA scoring champion.Honourable mention: Monta Ellis.39. Khris Middleton — A three-time All-Star and Milwaukee’s go-to perimeter scorer during its 2021 title run.Honourable mentions: Al Attles, Jerami Grant.38. Mehmet Okur — A champion with Detroit and an All-Star with Utah. His shooting gave the Jazz a dimension few teams got from their centers.Honourable mention: Louie Dampier.37. Nick Van Exel — An All-Star and one of the most entertaining guards of the ’90s.Honourable mention: Archie Clark.36. Maurice Cheeks — A Hall of Famer, NBA champion, four-time All-Star, and five-time All-Defensive selection.35. Draymond Green — Four titles and a Defensive Player of the Year award. He anchored Golden State’s defense and helped run its offense.Honourable mentions: DeAndre Jordan, Carlos Boozer, P.J. Tucker.34. Norm Van Lier — Three All-Star selections and eight All-Defensive selections.Honourable mentions: Jae Crowder, Mario Chalmers, C.J. Miles.33. Jalen Brunson — The Knicks built their offense around a second-round pick, and he took them to a title and won Finals MVP.Honourable mentions: Hassan Whiteside, Joe Harris.32. Rashard Lewis — A two-time All-Star and champion whose shooting was a big part of what made Orlando’s Finals team so tough to guard.Honourable mentions: Ivica Zubac, Montrezl Harrell.31. Danny Ainge — A two-time champion and All-Star.Honourable mention: Doc Rivers, Gilbert Arenas.

Picks 30–21

Jimmy Butler — Multiple All-NBA selections and the best player on two Miami Finals teams.Honourable mentions: Spencer Haywood, David Lee.29. Dennis Johnson — A Hall of Famer with three rings, a Finals MVP, and nine All-Defensive selections.Honourable mentions: Derrick White, Dejounte Murray.28. Tony Parker — Four titles, a Finals MVP, and six All-Star selections.Honourable mentions: Jordan Poole, Jaden McDaniels.27. Dennis Rodman — Five championships, two Defensive Player of the Year awards, and seven straight rebounding titles.Honourable mentions: Rudy Gobert, Pascal Siakam, Kyle Kuzma, Bogdan Bogdanović.26. Vlade Divac — A Hall of Famer, All-Star, and gifted passing center who helped shape those Sacramento offenses.Honourable mentions: Gerald Wallace, Charlie Ward, Jerome Williams.25. Mark Price — A four-time All-Star and All-NBA First Team guard whose pull-up shooting made him a nightmare in the pick-and-roll.Honourable mentions: John Drew, Nicolas Batum.24. Kyle Lowry — Six All-Star selections and the point guard who helped turn Toronto into a perennial playoff team before winning it all in 2019.Honourable mentions: Sam Cassell, Arvydas Sabonis, Latrell Sprewell, Terry Porter, Andrei Kirilenko.23. Alex English — A Hall of Famer, eight-time All-Star, and scoring champion.Honourable mentions: Tayshaun Prince, OG Anunoby.22. George McGinnis — A Hall of Famer who won an ABA MVP and earned All-NBA First Team honours after making the jump to the NBA.Honourable mentions: Reggie Lewis, Norm Nixon.21. Rajon Rondo — Two championships, four All-Star selections, and three assist titles. His playoff playmaking gives him the edge for me.Honourable mention: Michael Finley, Tyrese Maxey.

Picks 20–11

Larry Nance — A three-time All-Star, excellent rim protector, and winner of the first NBA Slam Dunk Contest.Honourable mentions: Gus Williams, Žydrūnas Ilgauskas.19. Nate “Tiny” Archibald — The only player to lead the NBA in points and assists per game in the same season.Honourable mentions: Zach Randolph, Rod Strickland, Jerry Sloan.18. Joe Dumars — A Hall of Famer, two-time champion, and Finals MVP who took some of Detroit’s toughest defensive assignments.Honourable mentions: Calvin Murphy, Ricky Pierce.17. Shawn Kemp — A six-time All-Star and the force at the rim on Seattle’s 1996 Finals team.Honourable mentions: Jrue Holiday, Don Nelson.16. John Stockton — The NBA’s career leader in both assists and steals.15. Giannis Antetokounmpo — Two MVPs, a Defensive Player of the Year award, a championship, and a Finals MVP. Nash and Kawhi make this one of the toughest slots.Honourable mentions: Steve Nash, Kawhi Leonard.14. Clyde Drexler — A Hall of Famer and 10-time All-Star who led Portland to two Finals and won a title with Houston.Honourable mentions: Tim Hardaway, Peja Stojaković, Bam Adebayo.13. Kobe Bryant — Five championships, an MVP, two Finals MVPs, and 18 All-Star selections.Honourable mentions: Karl Malone, Devin Booker, Donovan Mitchell, Hal Greer.12. Julius Erving — An MVP in both leagues and a champion in both leagues.Honourable mentions: Tyrese Haliburton, Mookie Blaylock, Cedric Maxwell.11. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — Two MVPs, a championship, and a Finals MVP. Reggie has the longevity argument, but I’m taking Shai’s peak.Honourable mentions: Reggie Miller, Klay Thompson, Jamaal Wilkes, Domantas Sabonis.

Picks 10–1

Paul Pierce — A champion, Finals MVP, 10-time All-Star, and 26,000-point scorer.Honourable mentions: Paul George, Joe Johnson.9. Dirk Nowitzki — An MVP, 14-time All-Star, and the centerpiece of Dallas’s 2011 championship run.Honourable mentions: Tracy McGrady, DeMar DeRozan.8. Willis Reed — An MVP, two-time champion, and two-time Finals MVP.Honourable mentions: Robert Parish, Sam Jones.7. Stephen Curry — Four championships, two MVPs, a Finals MVP, and the greatest shooter in NBA history.Honourable mention: John Havlicek.6. Larry Bird — Three straight MVPs, three championships, and two Finals MVPs.Honourable mentions: Adrian Dantley, Damian Lillard.5. Kevin Garnett — An MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, champion, and 15-time All-Star. His defensive range gives him my vote in a ridiculously deep slot.Honourable mentions: Charles Barkley, Dwyane Wade, Scottie Pippen, Ray Allen.4. Chris Paul — An elite organizer, efficient scorer, and exceptional defender at point guard. I give him the career edge over Russ.Honourable mentions: Russell Westbrook, Chris Bosh, Dikembe Mutombo.3. Michael Jordan — Six titles, six Finals MVPs, five regular-season MVPs, and 10 scoring titles.Honourable mentions: James Harden, Kevin McHale, Dominique Wilkins, Luka Dončić.2. Bill Russell — Eleven championships, five MVPs, and my pick for the greatest defensive player ever.Honourable mentions: Kevin Durant, Jerry West, Isiah Thomas, Jason Kidd.1. LeBron James — Four championships, four MVPs, four Finals MVPs, and the NBA’s all-time scoring record.Honourable mentions: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Tim Duncan, Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, Oscar Robertson, David Robinson.

Worth mentioning: I’m using the NBA’s published numbering for Oscar Robertson and Jerry West in 1960. Wilt Chamberlain was a territorial selection in 1959, so he gets his own mention.

Bonus honourable mention: ChairAccording to draft lore, the Lakers tried to draft a wooden chair in 1977. Elite durability. Zero turnovers.

OkThatChecksOut [OP]

1713 | 19 hours ago

This took so long

LazyHardWorker

32 | 18 hours ago

Thank you for doing it. If you had to build a team of one draft position, which slot would you go with? Excluding top 1-3.

OkThatChecksOut [OP]

67 | 17 hours ago

No problem, dude!

Mmm, it has to be 5 for me: Wade, Ray Allen, Pippen, Barkley, and KG. If you’ve got Vince Carter coming off the bench, that’s a good sign lol.

15 would be close. Giannis, Nash and Kawhi is wild. But the drop-off after those three is pretty steep. I’d have to take Dell Curry and Al Jefferson. So that’s where the lineup loses its lustre.

5 clears for me.

YSLAnunoby

11 | 17 hours ago

Could even argue for Vince peak wise over Ray. Ray of course is a better shooter all time but Vince was pretty good even before he became a specialist late in his career. Ray could also score all around even if people mostly think of him as a shooter when he was older, could be an interesting debate

OkThatChecksOut [OP]

9 | 17 hours ago

This is actually interesting. I think if you go absolute peak, Vince takes it by maybe a hair, but I would give the playoff edge to Ray Allen, which is why I put him above Vince. 2000-2001 is probably the best year for both. Vince averaged 27.6PPG on 55.1% TS during the regular season, whereas Allen averaged 22PPG on 61% TS.

Playoffs it was 27.3PPG on 52.3% TS for Vince and 25.1PPG on 61.3% TS for Ray Allen. Ray Allen also had more assists (6 - 4.7). It’s actually very close.

justmefishes

5 | 10 hours ago

1 has lots of great players who (reasonably) didn’t make the cut in your honorable mentions though. Look at this depth chart:

C: Kareem, Shaq, Olajuwon, Robinson, Ewing, Yao Ming, Dwight Howard, Bill Walton, Elvin Hayes, …

PF: Duncan, Wemby, Anthony Davis, Chris Webber, Karl-Anthony Towns, Blake Griffin, Elton Brand, …

SF: LeBron, Elgin Baylor, James Worthy, Mark Aguirre, Larry Johnson, Danny Manning, Glenn Robinson, …

SG: Allen Iverson, Anthony Edwards, David Thompson, Doug Collins, …

PG: Magic, Oscar Robertson, Derrick Rose, Kyrie Irving, Cade Cunningham, John Wall, …

Let’s say we want to make it a team that can play a modern style, with versatility, mobility, switchability, and shooting (which biases towards more modern players and stretch 4s). You could do e.g.

C: Olajuwon / Duncan

PF: Wemby / Towns

SF: LeBron / Worthy

SG: Edwards / Iverson

PG: Magic / Irving

or a million other combinations.

TAG_Sky240

17 | 17 hours ago

I mean 5 is the obvious choice, Wade-Allen-Pippen-Barkley-KG is an amazing lineup

SuperVaderMinion

23 | 17 hours ago

KG would bitch about playing the five for the entire time and probably try to fight Barkley but they’d also be totally unstoppable

snypre_fu_reddit

18 | 16 hours ago

Barkley would just play the 5. He often matched up against the center defensively anyway and was a monster on the low post despite his “small” stature. He’d play like Draymond in a small Warriors line-up and just be a terror on both ends of the court.

Cyclonitron

5 | 16 hours ago

In his era yeah, but in the current era he’d probably be more ok with it.

SuperTupac

44 | 13 hours ago

man, compared to the other threads/original content(very rare) that this sub likes, this is amazing/dedicated and very appealing/interesting in retrospect!

Chadwiko

148 | 17 hours ago

When people make lists like these I always find disagreements or nitpicks.

But damn mate I think you nailed this one. I have zero disagreements.

justmefishes

9 | 11 hours ago

Same, at least for the listed players (I agree with the other commenter who puts Arenas > Ainge at 31).

Another one that’s in play is Maxey over Rondo at 21. Rondo is a defensible pick what with being an elite passer, defender, and triple double threat and an important player on a championship team. But despite playing 16 seasons, his production level significantly slipped relatively early in his career (around the time of leaving Boston at age 28) and his lack of a jump shot was something defenses always exploited.

As for Maxey, after getting off to a relatively slow start his first 3 seasons, he’s averaged 27-6-4 the last 3 and is on a similar pace this season (still only age 26). He’s already matched Rondo’s career in terms of All-Star (x2) and All-NBA (3rd team x 1) and will surely tack on several more of those in the coming years (though Rondo gets credit for 2x All-Defense 1st Team and 2x All-Defense 2nd Team).

All in all, I could see giving Rondo the nod just in terms of total career achievements, but at their peaks it’s a matter of “elite role player” vs “player who’s probably good enough to be the 2nd guy on a title team.” Barring his career getting majorly sidetracked by injury, Maxey will be the easy pick when all is said and done.

Chadwiko

1 | 9 hours ago

Rondo’s ceiling is a level Maxey hasn’t gotten remotely close to… yet.

ionospherermutt

13 | 15 hours ago

Gilbert Arenas over Danny Ainge at 31 if we’re just talking basketball peak, obv he had the injuries and off the court problems

boozinf

4 | 12 hours ago

Blue Jays legend and multipositional threat Danny Ainge?

cfi-2025

1 | 12 hours ago

Danny Ainge, one of many guys who back-to-back Finals against MJ (92 with the Blazers, 93 with the Suns).

Martblni

293 | 18 hours ago

Surprised there hasn’t been a better 4 than Paulor Russ, and the early 20 are not that good as well

DrackasK

148 | 17 hours ago

CP3 would be top-6 all-time in every draft position bar-1st. I don’t get the surprise

Veserius

103 | 17 hours ago

never winning an MVP or a title has people underrate him.

joeb1ow

-9 | 16 hours ago

The ultimate goals of the sport is to A} win it all, and B} shine as the best player on the planet. CP3 did neither.

greywolf2155

10 | 16 hours ago

That was one of my surprises as well. Paul is very good, but he or Pierce are definitely the weakest in the Top 10

mani9612

15 | 16 hours ago

This is peak offseason content that may not get the upvotes it would have if posted in the offseason, but you have my respect nonetheless brother ✊🏽

barath_s

13 | 14 hours ago

You ordered this as draft picks by numbers…

Before 1989, you had fewer teams, but multiple rounds.. 3 rounds in 1988, 7 in 1987 and upto 21 rounds before.. 1988 had 25 teams, 1987 had 23 etc

So the 51st pick in the 1988 draft was actually the 3rd round.

Did you have anyone from the 3rd or later rounds beat out the two round 30 team league draftees ?

e: Anthony Mason (1988, 3rd Round, 53rd Overall), 6MOY, All Star, Kurt Rambis (1980, 3rd Round, 58th Overall), Michael Cooper (3rd round, 60th overall) are all examples of people who beat out the 2 round draftees. There may be others.

(Aside: that’s how the chair and other off the wall drafting/draft attempts happened- so many rounds that teams were tired and sick of it all, or looking at publicity. The same 7th round that saw the chair attempted saw Scooby Doo being drafted)

Eg Lucia Harris, officially the only woman drafted by the nba, was a 7th round 137th pick, by the Jazz

If 60 picks could take you so long, imagine going out even further, to the 21st round..

A few notable late round draftees to make it to the nba

Mack Calvin (1969, 14th Round, 187th Overall): Drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers, Calvin first became a five-time All-Star in the ABA before playing five seasons in the NBA following the 1976 merger. (Note: Guard Loy Petersen was drafted in the 17th round in 1967, but didn’t enter the league until he was re-drafted in the 2nd round in 1968.)

*Stan McKenzie (1966, 11th Round, 94th Overall): Selected by the Baltimore Bullets, McKenzie carved out a solid seven-year NBA career across four franchises, averaging 9.0 points per game.

Mario Elie (1985, 7th Round, 160th Overall): Drafted third-to-last by the Milwaukee Bucks, Elie spent years playing in Ireland, Portugal, and minor leagues before breaking into the NBA and winning three championships with the Rockets and Spurs

Spud Webb (1985, 4th Round, 87th Overall): Drafted by the Detroit Pistons, the 5’7” guard played 12 NBA seasons and famously won the 1986 Slam Dunk Contest.

And a few who didn’t

Eg Bruce Jenner (7th rd, pick 139, 1977), Lucia Harris (7th rd, pick 137, 1977), Hank Aaron, Carl Lewis (Rd 10, pick 208, 1984), Tony Gwynne (Rd 10, 210 1981) ,

The team water boy (1977 celtics), the local radio reporter , a soccer player who worked as counselor in the coach’s basketball camps …

And a few off the wall selections that were voided …

The chair (1977 7th round, lakers) , scooby do (1977, 7th round, lakers), newborn baby son of the GM (1974 Atlanta Hawks), 49 year old pharmacist who was a poker playing buddy of the owner. (Norm Horvitz 10th rd, Pick 228, 1983, 76ers), Denise Long (13th round, 1969 San Fran Warriors, would have been the first woman drafted officially by the NBA if it weren’t vetoed)

https://www.grunge.com/852433/how-a-49-year-old-pharmacist-was-once-drafted-to-the-nba/

BenevolentCheese

18 | 13 hours ago

Now do the worst player at every draft position

GivesCredit

6 | 16 hours ago

High effort content in this sub? Good work brother

TheCornwallis

5 | 17 hours ago

Gilbert arenas honorable mention at 31?

MarzipanFit2345

5 | 15 hours ago

I fucking love it thank you though.

tokengreenguy

-1 | 15 hours ago

Dominique getting a mention over Tatum is probably incorrect

caramelbologna

-1 | 8 hours ago

Not with AI!

bengtc

-2 | 15 hours ago

Ya sure it takes so long to write a simple AI prompt

LeBron_is_Illiterate

-3 | 15 hours ago

No it didn’t, you AI generated it lol

[deleted]

0 | 19 hours ago

OkThatChecksOut [OP]

81 | 18 hours ago

I’ll concede this took hours which may be worse than using AI

Remarkable_Breath545

18 | 18 hours ago

I’m sure this isn’t your intention, but people bringing up AI every time someone puts effort into a post or comment is really lame and does a disservice to humans. People are gonna be less likely to make post like this if every time they do someone always has to bring up AI or throw around accusations that they can’t prove either way. You can barely even write two paragraphs with half decent spelling and grammar without accusations from lazy and illiterate people.

And even if it reads like AI, AI was trained off of real people, so it’s still representative of how real people type.

Exodus100

1 | 16 hours ago

Newer models are trained off of text written by real people and written by AI. And their training reward functions do not reward writing like a normal person (source: ai researcher w colleagues who have recently done work explicitly on these questions of AI writing and why it sounds the way it does).

It’s understandable to occasionally have some sentences that sound AI-ish, but when it’s literally every sentence of a text ringing the alarm bells… I’d bet a loot of money on at least the intro of this post being AI-written if we could actually verify such a claim

Lopsided_Share_185

-2 | 17 hours ago

Put the entire post into an AI checker, 100% AI. Doesn’t take a genius to notice it.

Remarkable_Breath545

3 | 17 hours ago

Bro do you genuinely trust AI detection tools?

Victor__Wembanyama

188 | 15 hours ago

Why you keeping peak off season content for the NBA season?

OkThatChecksOut [OP]

45 | 15 hours ago

LOL, maybe I’ll make a different variation for offseason and include best undrafted players.

Boostafazoom

11 | 13 hours ago

Now do the worst. It’s probably even harder

GodlyBurgers

1 | 8 hours ago

As much as ever digital literacy is extremely important. Did it for you, just as much as op did it. “OP”’s post is very clearly ai but for our sake I threw the title into claude and swapped “Best” for “Worst” and here it is:

I ranked the worst player ever taken at each NBA draft slot from 60 to 1. I weighed how little each player gave the team that drafted him, how short the career was, and how good the players taken right after him turned out. Second-rounders who never played an NBA game don’t count, since there are dozens of them at almost every slot.

Some picks are easy. Then you get to No. 2 and have to choose between Hasheem Thabeet, Darko Miličić, and Marvin Bagley III.

Picks 60–51

Alex Acker — Got into 30 NBA games and never found a spot in a rotation.Honourable mention: Kostas Antetokounmpo.59. Damir Markota — Played 30 NBA games before heading back to Europe.Honourable mention: D.J. Strawberry.58. Andreas Glyniadakis — Thirteen games, and that was it.Honourable mention: Joe Crawford.57. Cuonzo Martin — Seven NBA games, then a long and much more successful college coaching career.Honourable mention: Kevin Hervey.56. Devyn Marble — Couldn’t stick in the league after 44 games.Honourable mentions: J.R. Henderson, Peyton Siva.55. Mike Taylor — Fifty-one games and out.Honourable mention: Darius Johnson-Odom.54. Kenny Satterfield — Struggled through 75 games and had one of the roughest NBA stints of any second-rounder.Honourable mention: Kay Felder.53. Orien Greene — Stuck around for 131 games but never became a real contributor.Honourable mention: Matt Freije.52. Ernest Brown — His entire NBA career lasted three games.Honourable mention: Lorenzo Brown.51. Mike Morrison — Thirty-six games and done.Honourable mention: Cheikh Samb.

Picks 50–41

Vassilis Spanoulis — Lasted 31 games in Houston, then went home and became a EuroLeague legend. Wrong league, right player.Honourable mention: Miloš Babić.49. Cory Carr — Struggled badly in 42 games.Honourable mention: Josh Selby.48. Brian Davis — Played 68 games without ever making much of a dent.Honourable mentions: Kevin Thompson, Chris Owens.47. Kevin Murphy — Seventeen games and out.Honourable mention: Russ Smith.46. Ha Seung-jin — The first Korean player in NBA history, though he lasted only 46 games.Honourable mention: Ricky Blanton.45. God Shammgod — Twenty NBA games. His crossover has lasted a lot longer than his career did.Honourable mention: Scott Haffner.44. Martynas Andriuškevičius — Six games and back to Europe.Honourable mention: Kim English.43. Ricky Ledo — Twenty-eight games and never earned real minutes.Honourable mention: Lamont Strothers.42. Isaiah Whitehead — Got real playing time in Brooklyn and couldn’t make it count.Honourable mention: Donnie Boyce.41. Sean Green — Played 84 forgettable games. Nikola Jokić went at this same slot, so no pick has a wider gap between its best and worst.Honourable mention: Tyshawn Taylor.

Picks 40–31

Rich Manning — Fifty-five games and never established himself.Honourable mention: Sun Yue.39. Jawun Evans — Fifty-six games and out of the league.Honourable mention: Lavor Postell.38. Elmer Bennett — Twenty-one games and done.Honourable mention: Andy Rautins.37. Damone Brown — Thirty-nine games and never found a home.Honourable mention: Darington Hobson.36. Duane Cooper — Played 88 games without finding a role.Honourable mention: Jeff Trepagnier.35. Bruno Šundov — A 7-foot-2 project who stuck around for 102 games and never developed.Honourable mention: Glen Rice Jr.34. Cleanthony Early — Fifty-six games and out.Honourable mention: Anthony Brown.33. Junior Burrough — Sixty-one games and never earned a steady role.Honourable mention: Lionel Chalmers.32. Brian Oliver — Played 118 games and was a negative most of the time he was on the floor.Honourable mention: Justin Harper.31. Dragan Tarlać — Forty-three games and back to Europe.Honourable mentions: Tibor Pleiß, Damien Inglis.

Picks 30–21

Christian Eyenga — A raw athlete who never turned it into an NBA game, out after 51 games.Honourable mentions: Nemanja Nedović, Maciej Lampe.29. Mardy Collins — Got 189 games and plenty of chances, and couldn’t make any of them count.Honourable mentions: Marquis Teague, George Ackles.28. Corey Benjamin — Lasted 153 games without ever earning a steady role.Honourable mention: Maurice Ager.27. Chris Jefferies — Seventy-two games and never got going.Honourable mention: JaJuan Johnson.26. Dave Johnson — Fifty-nine games and out.Honourable mention: Nikola Milutinov.25. Tony Wroten — Got shots and minutes on bad teams and was wildly inefficient with both.Honourable mentions: Elmore Spencer, Shaun Vandiver.24. Rodrick Rhodes — A big college name who struggled through 72 NBA games.Honourable mention: Dalibor Bagarić.23. Brandon Armstrong — Played 108 games and never became a rotation player.Honourable mention: Roy Marble.22. Malachi Richardson — Seventy games and out of the league.Honourable mention: Marcus Williams.21. Nolan Smith — A Duke star who never translated to the NBA, out after 84 games.Honourable mention: Joseph Forte.

Picks 20–11

B.J. Tyler — Fifty-five games and done.Honourable mentions: Jeff Sanders, Julius Hodge.19. Ryan Humphrey — Eighty-five games and never found a role.Honourable mentions: Randolph Childress, Quincy Douby.18. Kevin Brooks — Played 126 games without ever becoming more than a reserve.Honourable mentions: Mirsad Türkcan, Henry Ellenson.17. Rashad Vaughn — A young shooter who couldn’t shoot well enough to stay in the league.Honourable mentions: Wade Baldwin, James Young.16. Kirk Haston — Twenty-seven games and out.Honourable mentions: Troy Bell, Justin Patton.15. Reece Gaines — A Louisville star who lasted 71 games in the NBA. The same slot produced Giannis, Nash, and Kawhi.Honourable mention: Frédéric Weis.14. William Avery — Left Duke early and never found his footing in the NBA.Honourable mention: Mateen Cleaves.13. Georgios Papagiannis — Thirty-nine games from the slot that gave us Kobe Bryant and Karl Malone.Honourable mention: Marcus Haislip.12. Aleksandar Radojević — Fifteen career games from a lottery pick.Honourable mention: Yaroslav Korolev.11. Terrence Williams — Plenty of talent but never found a consistent role.Honourable mentions: Fran Vázquez, Acie Law.

Picks 10–1

Luke Jackson — A college star whose NBA career lasted 73 games.Honourable mentions: Mouhamed Sene, Jimmer Fredette.9. Patrick O’Bryant — A seven-foot project who never got past project status. Ninety games.Honourable mentions: Ed O’Bannon, Kevin Knox.8. Rafael Araújo — Toronto took him one spot ahead of Andre Iguodala.Honourable mentions: Joe Alexander, Bo Kimble.7. Emmanuel Mudiay — Got a starting job and over 300 games and was a negative for most of them.Honourable mention: Ben McLemore.6. Jonny Flynn — Minnesota took him one pick ahead of Stephen Curry. Nothing more needs to be said.Honourable mention: Sharone Wright.5. Nikoloz Tskitishvili — A mystery-box international who never figured out the NBA. Amar’e Stoudemire went four picks later.Honourable mentions: Mario Hezonja, Dante Exum.4. Josh Jackson — A top-five pick with a long run of playing time and very little to show for it.Honourable mentions: Dragan Bender, Marcus Fizer.3. Adam Morrison — The college scoring star never found his footing in the NBA, though he did pick up two rings as a Lakers reserve.Honourable mention: Jahlil Okafor.2. Hasheem Thabeet — Memphis took him between Blake Griffin and James Harden. Darko’s case is just as strong given who went after him.Honourable mentions: Darko Miličić, Marvin Bagley III.

Anthony Bennett — The most surprising No. 1 pick in years, and he was out of the league after four seasons. No top pick in the modern era gave his team less.

Honourable mentions: Michael Olowokandi, Greg Oden.

Worth mentioning: I’m only counting drafts from 1989 on, when the draft went to two rounds, so pick numbers mean the same thing every year. I left out players whose careers were cut short by accidents or tragedy, including Jay Williams at No. 2 and Bobby Hurley at No. 7, because “worst” should be about basketball, not bad luck. I also skipped the 2020 and 2021 classes, since it’s too early to judge them.

no formatting needed just edit the opening or closing statement and you have essentially the exact post that ob posted

Infamous_Prompt_9424

215 | 18 hours ago

The undrafted slot would be stacked btw. Better than hald of the spots

OkThatChecksOut [OP]

107 | 18 hours ago

That would be a fun list to make!

I think the best would have to be Ben Wallace and I think that’s a unanimously shared sentiment with most fans/ players.

Scoobay2

38 | 17 hours ago

The best NBA Draft pick ever made at every slot

The above article was posted on fansided 6/17/26

very similar but with some minor differences - great job!

Undrafted list starts with Wallace, Starks, FVV, and I guess Reaves now.

My all time fav would be JJ Barea 😄

EDIT: Oooh, found this article on the topic from Bleacher Report

Ranking the 10 Best NBA Undrafted Players of All Time

Billy_King

3 | 15 hours ago

No TJ McGoatnell?

Scoobay2

1 | 13 hours ago

oh he’s really good too. I don’t know all the undrafteds, just a few off the top of my head.

justmefishes

1 | 10 hours ago

I had to stop reading at Eric Bledsoe over Joe Dumars. Wow.

Geoff12889

14 | 15 hours ago

Best undrafted player?

OkThatChecksOut [OP]

84 | 15 hours ago

Ben Wallace by far

mightyboognish32

11 | 11 hours ago

Me. League just wasn’t ready yet.

chris_paul_fraud

7 | 14 hours ago

Duncan Robinson 🔥

AutVincere72

4 | 13 hours ago

Fred Van Fleet

itsahmemario

2 | 10 hours ago

Depends on how you treat Moses Malone

CrazyDaylight8

3 | 13 hours ago

Austin Reaves

True-Reference3476

1 | 8 hours ago

2x All-Star Brad Miller worthy of honorable mention among the undrafted players.

jphamlore

1 | 8 hours ago

Where do you slot Connie Hawkins, who had to sue his way into the NBA after a settlement? His rights were apparently assigned to the expansion Phoenix Suns.

naive-dragon

51 | 18 hours ago

Ignore the dumb-asses who think AI whenever they see a decently-written post. Great job OP, it was a nice read.

I remember reading something like this from either SLAM or Basketball Digest, but that was decades ago lol.

OkThatChecksOut [OP]

17 | 17 hours ago

Thanks brother, means a lot!

naive-dragon

1 | 11 hours ago

I promise I’m not being a dick, but your post isn’t even written THAT well, lol (ofc I enjoyed it). It’s just written satisfactorily, it’s more your (hard) work of figuring out who the best choice per pick was the interesting part.

joemontanya

17 | 16 hours ago

It’s so obvious to tell when it’s actually AI…

naive-dragon

2 | 11 hours ago

For real. I think only people who can decently write detect it, but there’s a certain cadence (?) to the writing when it’s AI-generated. And I don’t think I’m really that good a writer either, I’m just not illiterate lol

I know because I’ve sometimes tried to have AI generate a thought I want to articulate, but it always churns out something very AI-ish and hollow/insincere (?). Dunno how to explain it. I always end up rewriting most of it so the tone and cadence is right.

soulsides

3 | 11 hours ago

I’m a college professor so I’ve had to train myself to be somewhat capable of spotting AI text. It’s not as obvious as many people claim-which explains the “false positives” people insist upon.

For one, you can program AI to adopt different voices and styles of writing. There’s sort of a house style to the cadence as folks have said but prose-wise, AI style will differ from platform to platform. The giveaway for me is often a very consistent sentence length and rhetorical tics that you see repeatedly.

OP’s doesn’t ring my AI bell.

Spike_der_Spiegel

-10 | 15 hours ago

Everything about this screams AI

An elite organizer, efficient scorer, and exceptional defender at point guard. I give him the career edge over Russ.

What are we even doing here?

aggregator-

17 | 14 hours ago

Scary that seeing a simple sentence using basic principles we’ve employed for millenia screams non-human to you.

joemontanya

12 | 15 hours ago

Looks like someone spent a lot of time typing it out.

Look_its_Rob

6 | 13 hours ago

That does not give AI at all. Thats just normal writing.

[deleted]

0 | 17 hours ago

naive-dragon

2 | 17 hours ago

I’m actually an AI bot, so who’s getting scammed here

SimpleYouth8075

209 | 18 hours ago

Great work OP. People dont understand the level of meticulous detail it took to get this right. I use AI all the time for organizing my ideas, so not sure if thats what ppl are judging from this. I hate when ppl mistake human work with help from AI for total Ai work. Not sure if this makes sense. Im also not saying your using AI. I just appreciate this post and find it incredibly well put together

OkThatChecksOut [OP]

90 | 18 hours ago

Wow, thank you. I work from home so I spent more hours than I’d like to admit on this throughout the week, so I genuinely appreciate this. Even went back and watched some old tape lol. Thanks again.

cortesoft

3 | 12 hours ago

I was impressed with how few I disagreed with. Good job.

SimpleYouth8075

1 | 8 hours ago

It shows dude! Appreciate u for making it. I enjoyed seeing players careers from this perspective.

glowsticc

6 | 17 hours ago

Some of these honorable mentions were really generous.

OkThatChecksOut [OP]

5 | 17 hours ago

Lmao, fair. Which were the worst?

Confident-Fan4514

14 | 17 hours ago

zaza and kuzma were a little egregious

OkThatChecksOut [OP]

6 | 17 hours ago

You’re right. Zaza got it for longevity and 2 rings. If he hadn’t played 16 seasons, I probably would have left him out and I don’t think anyone would have protested him being left out either.

Kuzma was a rotation player on the 2020 champion Lakers and later averaged 21.2 and 22.2 points per game in back-to-back seasons with Washington so I gave it to him because it was a decent return for a 27th pick.

But again, I don’t see anyone protesting either being left out. I appreciate you reading the list though, brother.

greywolf2155

7 | 14 hours ago

You know you did a great job when the only complaints people have are about the honorable mentions, hah

glowsticc

6 | 17 hours ago

Jordan Poole is not in the same stratosphere as Tony Parker. Same for Sabonis and SGA.

Admittedly I’ve only been watching since the mid 1990s.

Dc_awyeah

5 | 15 hours ago

Jordan Poole

BigHead1012

6 | 17 hours ago

Maxey should be at least Honorable Mention at 21

OkThatChecksOut [OP]

9 | 16 hours ago

Edited it to include him. You’re right, he should be for sure.

fuzzythinker

1 | 15 hours ago

Joel Embiid should be added to #3 too. He won MVP and is top 3 for 3 years. Maxey hasn’t taken the throne from him til this year, was debatable prior.

Paintedf

2 | 14 hours ago

It’s been Maxey’s team for like 3 years now

fuzzythinker

1 | 14 hours ago

Ok, got it. I’m not following 6ers so didn’t hear about Maxey being the guy on r/nba til this season.

[deleted]

0 | 13 hours ago

BigHead1012

4 | 13 hours ago

Kyrie was #1 overall , he’s competing vs other #1 overalls and that was a weak draft (Kawhi Leonard probably only player drafted over Kyrie in redraft). Maxey goes Top3 in a redraft of his class and at pick 21 I think he’s already better than Michael Finley.

zachthompson02

1 | 12 hours ago

Because the competition is LeBron and Kareem versus Rajon Rando.

Cockrocker

2 | 15 hours ago

He is on his way to taking that spot for sure.

LetOtherwise9755

2 | 15 hours ago

His to claim.

EazyPeazyLemonSqueaz

7 | 18 hours ago

Why is Luka not an honorable mention at #3?

OkThatChecksOut [OP]

6 | 18 hours ago

Can’t believe I missed that — edited it! Thanks dude and my b

EazyPeazyLemonSqueaz

1 | 18 hours ago

Haha no worries I wasn’t sure if it was just unintentional or you were trying to make a statement with the snub

OkThatChecksOut [OP]

1 | 18 hours ago

Completely unintentional lol — he rightfully deserves an HM

SwizzGod

413 | 18 hours ago

Bird going 6th is kinda wild. Idk how I didn’t know that

HokageEzio

282 | 18 hours ago

There’s a little more to the story.

Before the draft, Larry Bird had just finished his junior year at Indiana State. However, he was eligible to be drafted without applying for “hardship” because his original college class at Indiana University had graduated. He initially enrolled at Indiana University in 1974 but dropped out before the season began. After sitting out a year, he enrolled at Indiana State. Despite being eligible for the draft, he stated that he would return to college for his senior season.

His hometown team, the Indiana Pacers, initially held the first overall pick. However, when they failed to persuade him to leave college early, they traded the first pick to the Blazers, who also failed to convince him into signing. Five teams, including the Pacers who held the third pick, passed on Bird until the Celtics used the sixth pick to draft him. They drafted him even though they knew that they might lose the exclusive rights to him if he didn’t sign before the next draft.

He could reenter the draft in 1979 and sign with the other team that drafted him, and in negotiations with Red Auerbach Bird’s agent Bob Woolf bluntly dismissed Red’s lowball salary offers (he said that he would not offer Bird a contract that paid him more than the \(400,000 annual salary of the team's highest-paid player at the time, Dave Cowens) and made it clear that Bird would enter the 1979 Draft without any regrets if Boston didn't change its plans. Nevertheless, in April 1979, he signed a five-year, US\)3.25-million contract with the Celtics, which made him the highest-paid rookie in the history of team sport at that time.

elpaco25

89 | 17 hours ago

He was a Junior who famously said he wanted to stay for his senior year. And because he did that he could’ve been eligible to be drafted again and for a new team, the next year. So whoever drafted him in 78 could’ve potentially wasted their first round pick for that year. Celtics took the gamble and Bird said pay me more or im going back to the draft. Lakers had the 79 #1 pick so Red Auerbach payed Larry and made him the highest paid rookie at the time. Those 5 teams before the Celtics all most likely would not have paid him like that so they passed on him even though he was obviously the best player to pick in 78

SwizzGod

25 | 17 hours ago

Okay so it’s kinda like the Magic Johnson thing? Or am I remembering wrong

elpaco25

45 | 17 hours ago

Yup kinda, Magic said imma be a Laker or go back to Michigan State. But Lakers won the coin flip so they didn’t have to deal the same drama.

SwizzGod

8 | 17 hours ago

Gotcha. Thanks for the breakdown

Neatojuancheeto

-9 | 16 hours ago

Joining a dynasty vs making a dynasty, that alone settles the GOAT PG debate

geckomage

14 | 13 hours ago

The Pacers, who had the #1 pick initially, didn’t have the money or time to not draft a player. That was the year the team had to host a telethon in order to stay in business because of the money the ABA teams had to pay in order to join the NBA.

FFtrying

86 | 18 hours ago

You know about the drafting bullshit that made the NBA change the rules right? The first bird rule was about the draft.

YSLAnunoby

32 | 17 hours ago

Pre rookie scale contracts were really the wild west

Neatojuancheeto

12 | 16 hours ago

Lebron would get the supermax lol

Johnknight111

3 | 10 hours ago

Would be absolutely deserved too.

miianwilson

10 | 16 hours ago

Wait, is this where having someone’s bird rights comes from? I always assumed it was filibuster

Automatic_Spirit_271

38 | 18 hours ago

It’s pretty fun. The rules back then were that you could pick someone after their junior year, even if they didn’t declare for the draft. And Bird had already said he was staying another year. The Celtics took him anyway and waited until after his senior year.

Most-Artichoke6184

16 | 17 hours ago

This is how my Chicago Bulls had the second pick in the 1979 draft in which Magic Johnson and Larry Bird both came out of college and ended up with David Greenwood lol

rddi0201018

3 | 14 hours ago

and how’d that work out for you guys?

Most-Artichoke6184

2 | 11 hours ago

Not great, Bob!

NBA314

10 | 18 hours ago

He was going to go back to Indiana State to play another year, so teams passed on him until then.

Infamous_Prompt_9424

30 | 18 hours ago

Number 27 is surprisingly overpowered.

From 15 onwards you have tremendously difficult choices.

5 may be the only one that made me raise my eye brows a little bit. But you cannot really go wrong with anyone. I would choose Pippen or Wade.

Solid list

FaceMaskYT

30 | 14 hours ago

Ridiculous to put LeBron over Cleveland legend Anthony Bennett

sanfranchristo

30 | 17 hours ago

I was getting ready to laugh at the shade of Ainge over Doc but then I was reminded how short Doc’s prime was and how productive Ainge’s post-Celtics career was.

It’s interesting how uncontroversial 4th is and how relatively low CP would rank overall as the clear leader at that high of a pick.

5th is probably the toughest but 60th is sneaky close. Cooper had such a great career as a specialist on a dynasty where Thomas had the highest peak with a top-5 MVP season but Petro might have been the best had he not died right as he was entering his peak. Cooper was an all-time defender but never made an All-NBA or even All Star team where both Thomas and Petro made an All-NBA at least once.

ionospherermutt

5 | 15 hours ago

Still should have had Gilbert Arenas over both of them at 31 imo but I understand penalizing him for injury and off the court nonsense

sanfranchristo

3 | 14 hours ago

Oh, yeah, his peak is way higher than either.

Other_Banana_

1 | 7 hours ago

Gilbert Arenas?

fuzzythinker

242 | 18 hours ago

Honourable mentions: Patrick Beverley, Zaza Pachulia.

Don’t think Zaza is honourable at all

DiscoBuiscuit

62 | 18 hours ago

Jordan Poole being an HM to Tony Parker is more insulting lmfao

OKCBaller035913

110 | 18 hours ago

Pat Bev isn’t either lol

mkhimau5

38 | 18 hours ago

Or Kuzma at 27

Kdot32

13 | 16 hours ago

Pat bev the person can suck and yet we can acknowledge his story is fucking incredible

fuzzythinker

1 | 12 hours ago

Nah, he’s forgivable. He gave us “the next 5 yrs are mine” meme and the memorable Mongoose vs. Serpent and the “See, you had the wrong call” chasing the ref w/ fan’s camera clips.

Neatojuancheeto

1 | 16 hours ago

His CP3 hating is honurable

A_J_H

1 | 16 hours ago

Paul George was the one that got me.

LordHussyPants

4 | 17 hours ago

yeah the honourable mentions are interesting, i’m not sure what criteria he used

WhichHoes

6 | 18 hours ago

And Patrick is

Tax73

2 | 17 hours ago

Cursed draft spot

fatal1zzz

54 | 17 hours ago

lol taking 1,2,3,4,5 is a perfect team as well

PG - CP3

SG - MJ

SF - LBJ

PF - KG

C - Russell

Cyclonitron

19 | 16 hours ago

Only thing that lineup is missing is elite 3-point shooting but I don’t even think it would matter. The ball movement and hoops IQ of that lineup is otherworldly.

And then the other team has to try scoring against them.

greywolf2155

11 | 14 hours ago

Good thing they got Bird and Curry as their first two guys off the bench

(but also, right, no way it matters. That lineup dominates any team ever assembled)

fatal1zzz

7 | 16 hours ago

yeah. i mean lebron is avg, mj is probably below avg and cp3 is probably above average.

but no one’s scoring against them on the perimeter or the interior lol. insane team that does everything

AmbivalentAlias

7 | 15 hours ago

MJ was actually about average from 3 overall, but on low volume.

Sharcbait

0 | 12 hours ago

I feel like if KG played in todays NBA he would be a sniper from a corner 3. He had that baseline middy, modern coaching would have him take 3 steps back and shoot it as a 3.

Cassandrae_Gemini

13 | 18 hours ago

I enjoyed this, thank you. Its genuinely interesting to see where various legends were drafted in different years.

[deleted]

0 | a year ago

jphamlore

11 | 18 hours ago

Poor Carmelo Anthony is left off the list. So is Vince Carter.

wise_afro

31 | 18 hours ago

I appreciate the effort.

SuperVaderMinion

68 | 18 hours ago

Excellent write up!

But can we all have a conversation about #27? I feel like Dennis Rodman, Rudy Gobert, and Pascal Siakam is genuinely a super interesting debate because they all impact winning in different ways.

greywolf2155

41 | 16 hours ago

I hear you, but nah. Rodman was an absolute winner

The interesting thing about him is that the more you get into advanced stats, or really break down the Xs and Os, or just watch a ton of film … regardless, the more you study it, the better he looks. The more you look into it, the more you realize that Rodman just won you games

I’m a huge Siakam fan, he’s climbing up the mountain of all-time great roleplayers that help you in multiple ways. But Rodman is sitting on top of that mountain

Dongsquad420BlazeIt

8 | 15 hours ago

https://skepticalsports.com/the-case-for-dennis-rodman-guide/

Rodman has an argument for being the goat. It’s not a great one, but it’s an argument.

greywolf2155

5 | 15 hours ago

Bahaha this is great

Player Efficiency Rating ranks Dennis Rodman as the 7th best player on the 1995-96 Bulls championship team

Player Efficiency Rating is terrible

ThedirtyNose

25 | 17 hours ago

Nah that’s pretty clear.

afreeman85

0 | 16 hours ago

Have to disagree here. This seems like one of the most clear-cut on the entire list to me.

LiteratureHuge2177

-23 | 17 hours ago

Sleeping on kuzma, whoever downvoting me gonna be eating their words when kuzma puts 71 on the bulls

Old-Atmosphere-7281

8 | 17 hours ago

Lmao my one note on this whole list was take Kuzma out of there, disrespectful to the others at 27

GotKarprar

4 | 17 hours ago

Zzzz staying asleep

LiteratureHuge2177

1 | 17 hours ago

It’s time to wake up he’s due for another 0/0/0 in 30 minutes in a playoff game

aflyingsquanch

45 | 18 hours ago

Maxey at 21 should also be an honorable mention

GrandKai23

4 | 18 hours ago

And here I was going to say Ricky Davis…

Above_the_Cinders

6 | 18 hours ago

I think he’s already ahead of Finley

mnewman19

-5 | 16 hours ago

Should be above rondo, sorry but it’s true

BOFA2107

7 | 16 hours ago

Absolutely not that’s a crazy take

Various_Procedure_11

1 | 11 hours ago

Maybe it’s just remembering him with the bulls, but his lack of scoring ability absolutely hampered any offense, despite his passing greatness.

Nihilistic_Marmot

109 | 18 hours ago

Love this post, just read through the whole thing. No arguments from me anywhere, though I do find it difficult to take Giannis over Nash and Kawhi. I think if it was a question of, ‘you need one of these guys to win you a game 7.’, I’d be taking Kawhi no question.

But he’s also the most unreliable superstar ever so it’s fair to rank Giannis higher.

FKJVMMP

104 | 18 hours ago

It was ‘only’ a game 6 but Giannis did drop ⁵⁰⁄₁₅ with 5 blocks to close out the Finals. Maybe you should have some questions.

Tahummus

7 | 15 hours ago

I feel like I’m taking crazy pills reading the post above you and the replies below. He had maybe the greatest closeout finals of all time and someone is taking Kawhi in a game 7 over him, no question? ⁵⁰⁄₁₅, somehow turns into Steph at the line when it matters, and Bud gets the credit? Absolutely fucking wild, lol

Nihilistic_Marmot

12 | 18 hours ago

I think it’s super close but Kawhi when he’s on has always put the fear in me more than Giannis. I also find no issue taking Giannis, he’s a beast.

WiffleBallZZZ

-7 | 18 hours ago

Peak Kawhi is basically equal to Jordan.

greywolf2155

7 | 16 hours ago

I mean, I get what you’re saying. 30+/10 with elite shut-down-your-best-player defense is wild, the list of guys that could do that is very short and Kawhi and Jordan are both on it. Peak Kawhi is absolutely underrated

But uhhhhhh no. Peak Kawhi was Jordan’s normal level for a decade. And Jordan had a gear above that

OSUBoglehead

13 | 18 hours ago

You must not be old enough to have watched Jordan…

FFtrying

5 | 18 hours ago

Peak Kawhi is in my top 5 lineup.

MotoMkali

0 | 18 hours ago

That series vs a pretty subpar team was basically decided by points from ATOs I think there was 1 point in it either way outside of that. Which I guess shows bud massively out coached monty Williams.

stoned_salmon

15 | 18 hours ago

Sleeper question, was wondering what you guys think about Jrue Holiday over Shawn Kemp. Not taking anything away from Kemp but Holiday is a 6x All Defense, 2x All Star and a 2x NBA Champion. Not sure if I’d take him over Kemp in any situation but there’s certainly an argument.

greywolf2155

8 | 16 hours ago

I mean, if there’s an all-time draft or something, you’re putting together an entire team, you can make a case for Holiday. An elite role player with great perimeter defense is an asset that literally every team in NBA history would want

But, just direct comparison … no. Shawn Kemp was taking over games in a way Holiday could never

greywolf2155

2 | 16 hours ago

5 and 15 are the most difficult to pick, for sure. The 3rd-best guy in those draft positions could win most of the other spots

Bigman054

4 | 17 hours ago

Giannis vs Kawhi is debatable but Giannis vs Nash is not.

Giannis had a better peak, won a ring and a DPOY, and has similar if not better longevity than Nash already as he was better at an earlier age than Nash was

Afrohatch

4 | 18 hours ago

15 is where I got hung up on too…feel like Kawhi has more major accolades, just no league MVP. A second FMVP and ring I feel could put him on top

The Best NBA Player Ever Drafted at Every Pick, From 60 to 1