Ranking: The best draft selections in NBA history (2024)

Selected with the 41st overall pick (second round)

The second round of the 2014 NBA draft was littered with players who remain in the NBA to this day. Obviously, none of them come close toNikola Jokic in stature, who already has three MVPs and one championship (with Finals MVP) on his resume. Jokic, a future first-ballot Hall of Famer, was famously drafted during a Taco Bell commercial.

Jokic obviously is the greatest draft pick of all time, going from an inconsequential second-round pick who didn’t really wow anyone at the previous Nike Hoop Summit or in his overseas professional career prior to the NBA, to becoming one of the best players in league history. And it’s quite unlikely anyone in the future will be able to go under the radar pre-draft like Jokic did to match his level of success with the team that selected him.

All in all, easy pick here as Jokic is the greatest NBA Draft pick in league history.

Players selected right before him: DeAndre Daniels, Spencer Dinwiddie, Jerami Grant, Glenn Robinson III
Players selected right after him: Nick Johnson, Edy Tavares, Markel Brown, Dwight Powell

Selected with the 15th overall pick

Do you know how special a player has to be to go in the Top 15 of his respective draft class and still come up as one of the best NBA Draft picks of all time?

A tremendous value coming out of the 15th pick of the 2013 draft,Giannis Antetokounmpo slots in at No. 2 on our ranking of best draft picks ever, an honor that was well-earned by the Greek phenom, who has two league MVP awards, one NBA championship, one Finals MVP, six 1st Team All-NBAs, eight All-Star appearances and one Defensive Player of the Year under his belt before even turning 30 years old – all as a member of the team that drafted him, the Bucks.

Teams take chances on players like Antetokounmpo in the NBA draft fairly often, development projects with elite tangible assets but whose games need much refinement. It’s just so rare to see a player of that mold develop like Antetokounmpo has into a future first-ballot Hall-of-Famer, achieving all of his success with the team that drafted him no less.

Antetokounmpo was playing in the Greek third division before being drafted by the Bucks, a pretty huge gamble by the organization to take a player from that low of a level as high as they did, but it’s a gamble that has paid off in spades for Milwaukee.

Players selected right before him: Michael Carter-Williams, Steven Adams, Kelly Olynyk, Shabazz Muhammad
Players selected right after him: Lucas Nogueira, Dennis Schroeder, Shane Larkin, Sergey Karasev

Selected with the 13th overall pick

Before you go up in arms about Kobe Bryant going after Antetokounmpo in this ranking, just know that he’s third here because there was a lot of talent available after Bryant was selected, including three All-Stars (one of them a two-time league MVP) in the four picks immediately following Kobe. On the other hand, the Antetokounmpo draft had three All-Stars total: Antetokounmpo, Rudy Gobert and Victor Oladipo, who was no longer on the board the Milwaukee made its choice. If the Lakers had missed on Bryant, there’s a very good chance they could have gotten a star with one of the picks after him, Peja Stojaković, Steve Nash or Jermaine O’Neal. The same cannot be said for the Bucks had they not drafted Antetokounmpo.

Either way, originally drafted by the Charlotte Hornets with the 13th overall pick in the 1996 draft, Kobe saw his draft rights get traded to the Los Angeles Lakers the night he was selected by Charlotte in exchange for big man Vlade Divac.

The rest, as they say, is history, as Bryant would embark on the second-greatest career the NBA has ever seen from a shooting guard, winning league MVP once, bringing L.A. five championships, winning one Finals MVP, earning 11 1st Team All-NBAs and making 18 All-Star appearances while winning two scoring championships over his 20-year career. Bryant also ranks fourth all-time in NBA history in points scored (33,643) and owns a multitude of Lakers franchise records.

The Lakers, led byJerry West at the time, were enamored with Bryant after working him out pre-draft and were ultimately able to land the then-high school via draft-night trade with Charlotte. With a legacy like the one Bryant laid down in Los Angeles, there’s no question he’s one of the best draft picks in NBA history.

Players selected right before him: Samaki Walker, Erick Dampier, Todd Fuller, Vitaly Potapenko
Players selected right after him: Peja Stojaković, Steve Nash, Tony Delk, Jermaine O’Neal

Selected with the 57th overall pick (second round)

One of the greatest second-round picks ever, Manu Ginobili was selected with the second-to-last selection of the 1999 draft.

Ginobili would go from barely getting drafted to being a Hall-of-Famer today after helping San Antonio win four championships, earning All-Star honors twice, making two 3rd Team All-NBAs and taking home Sixth Man of the Year in 2008.

After being drafted in 1999, Ginobili would spend the next three seasons of his pro career in Europe before finally joining the Spurs for the 2002-03 seasons. The Argentine scorer and playmaker would spend his entire 16-year NBA career in San Antonio and will forever be remembered as one of the best players in franchise history, no small feat for a former No. 58 overall pick.

Players selected right before him: Rodney Buford, Melvin Levett, Kim Clack, Tim Young
Players selected right after him: Eddie Lucas

Selected with the 27th overall pick (second round)

The 1986 NBA draft was quite a strong one in the late first round, early second round as not only did that stretch of selections include Hall-of-Famer Dennis Rodman, one of the greatest draft picks of all time, it also featured, Arvydas Sabonis, Mark Price, Nate McMillan, andJohnny Newman, all of whom enjoyed long NBA careers and one of whom (Sabonis) who’s a Hall-of-Famer.

Regardless, the best of the bunch and one of the greatest second-round picks ever was undoubtedly Rodman, who ranks fourth all-time in offensive rebounds and has five NBA championships, two All-Stars, two 3rd Team All-NBAs and two Defensive Player of the Year awards to his credit.

Rodman’s draft-day slide stemmed from his small-school pedigree. The enigmatic forward’s stints at North Central Texas and Southeast Oklahoma State – hardly NCAA powerhouses – let him slip through the cracks. Landing with the “Bad Boys” Pistons in round two proved the perfect fit for Rodman’s two-way talent and ferocious on-court persona.

Besides posting otherworldly numbers in lower-level college basketball, Rodman was drafted as high as he even was because he was able to earn an invite to the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, a pre-draft camp for NBA prospects, where he won event MVP honors, catching Detroit’s attention in the process.

Players selected right before him: Ken Barlow, Arvydas Sabonis, Mark Price, Greg Dreiling
Players selected right after him: Larry Krystkowiak, Johnny Newman, Nate McMillan, Joe Ward

Selected with the 13th overall pick

Like Antetokounmpo, Hall-of-Fame power forward Karl Malone still earns his place in this ranking despite being a Top 15 pick, as the Utah Jazz took the former Louisiana Tech standout 13th overall in the 1985 draft.

Without question, looking back, Malone should have been the first overall pick in his class, but questions about his attitude and competition level in college caused him to slip some on draft night, including past the No. 8 pick, owned by the Dallas Mavericks that year. Dallas is where even Malone thought he was going to be drafted, going as far as renting an apartment in the city prior to the draft.

Regardless, the Mavs’ loss was Utah’s gain as The Mailman would spend18 seasons with the Jazz, where he reached the NBA Finals twice, won two league MVP awards, made 14 All-Star appearances and earned 11 1st Team All-NBA honors.

Players selected right before him: Charles Oakley, Ed Pickney, Keith Lee, Kenny Green
Players selected right after him: Alfredrick Hughes, Blair Rasmussen, Bill Wennington, Uwe Blab

Selected with the 16th overall pick

A member of the famed 1984 NBA draft class, arguably the greatest of all time featuring the likes of Michael Jordan,Hakeem Olajuwon andCharles Barkley, all-time assists leaderJohn Stockton went 16th overall to Utah that year before going on to spend his entire 19-season career with the Jazz.

Not only does Stockton lead the NBA in all-time assists with 15,806, he also leads the league in all-time steals with 3,265, firmly established as one of the greatest point guards of all time (we have him as the seventh-best point guard in league history).

Stockton was selected outside of the Top 15 due to Gonzaga, his alma mater, not being the powerhouse it is today back then, along with his lack of size and athleticism. Still, Stockton’s stock rose abruptly during the draft process. In two months, he went from hoping to play in Europe to going mid-first round.

All in all, a stroke of genius by the Jazz’s front office to land Stockton and Malone in back-to-back drafts without a Top 12 pick either year.

Players selected right before him: Tim McCormick, Jay Humphries, Michael Cage, Terence Stansbury
Players selected right after him: Jeff Turner, Vern Fleming, Bernard Thompson, Tony Campbell

Selected with the 15th overall pick

Steve Nash‘s reasons for slipping a bit on draft night are obvious, as he played at Santa Clara – not a very well-known NCAA program at the time – and he wasn’t the most athletic prospect, nor did he possess very good size.

Even so, it wound up being a fantastic selection for Phoenix, where Nash spent two separate sequences in his career, for his first two seasons in the NBA and then again from age 30 to age 37 after six seasons in Dallas. Nash would win two league MVP awards during his second Phoenix stint as well as make three 1st Team All-NBAs.

He never got to the Finals with the Suns but even so, Nash will always be remembered as the best draft pick ever by Phoenix.

Players selected right before him: Todd Fuller, Vitaly Potapenko, Kobe Bryant, Peja Stojakovic
Players selected right after him: Tony Delk, Jermaine O’Neal, John Wallace, Walter McCarty

Selected with the 28th overall pick

The last pick of the 2001 first round,Tony Parker spent all but one season of his 18-year career with the team that drafted him, the Spurs, before ending his career in Charlotte. In San Antonio, Parker became a Hall-of-Famer, winning four titles, making Six All-Star appearances and earning 2nd Team All-NBA honors three times.

Parker slipped through the cracks of the draft process to fall to the Spurs, who rated him favorably after pre-draft workouts and some scouting, including head coaching legend Gregg Popovich reportedly watching a “Best of” Tony Parker mixtape. That came after Parker had one rough draft workout with the team and prompted San Antonio to invite him back for a second pre-draft workout, one in which Parker acquitted himself quite well.

Parker discussed the moment himself in an article on The Players’ Tribune:

It’s true — I played maybe the most brutal basketball in my life, at the worst moment possible, right in front of Coach Pop and all of them. Pop and R.C., they had brought in this guy named Lance Blanks, a former NBA player, to run my workout, and he just dominated me. He made me look … well, he made me look like the teenage kid that I was. And I guess I bring this story up because, you know — a lot of people, they think of Coach Popovich as this “hard-ass” guy. But I’ll tell you, it’s funny: I might not have even made it to the league at all if Pop had not decided to give me a second chance to make a first impression on him. He invited me back in for another workout, and I made sure not to mess it up. I played a lot better against Lance this time. He still gave it to me pretty good, but I held my own a little bit. And I think I showed off some of the things that I could do on the court. And man, it’s crazy. Because the next thing you know, I’m watching the draft, and it’s — With the 28th pick in the 2001 Draft, the San Antonio Spurs select Tony Parker, of Racing Club Paris, France. In other words: I got the job?

A legendary pre-draft story fitting for one of the best draft picks of all time by the Spurs in Parker.

Players selected right before him: Raul Lopez, Gerald Wallace, Sam Dalembert, Jamaal Tinsley
Players selected right after him: Trenton Hassell, Gilbert Arenas, Omar Cook, Will Solomon

Selected with the 15th overall pick

It’s starting to seem like the dynasty Spurs of the Popovich era might have been pretty good at the whole drafting thing. After all, two-time Finals MVPKawhi Leonard is now the third Spurs player of that era to make this list, and with good reason, as he went from not even being a lottery pick to winning two championships, making six All-Stars and three 1st Team All-NBAs.

Of course, not all of that success came during Leonard’s time with the Spurs, as he did have a somewhat ugly split from San Antonio in the 2018 offseason. Even so, his accolades from just his time with the Spurs – two Defensive Player of the Years, two All-Star nods, two 1st Team All-NBAs and two Top 3 MVP finishes – were more than enough for him to make his way on this ranking as one of the best draft picks ever.

Leonard wasn’t some unknown prospect coming out of college, as he played his NCAA ball for legendary head coach Steve Fischer at San Diego State, the former head coach of the Fab Five at Michigan. In college, Leonard was a 2nd Team All-American as a sophom*ore and was a popular name in draft circles thanks to his elite physical traits, his tough-nosed attitude and his two-way capabilities, all of which translated at the NBA level.

However, his questionable outside shooting prevented him from going higher in the draft and, to the Spurs’ luck, he fell to No. 15 where he was able to develop his outside jumper and become an unquestioned NBA superstar.

Players selected right before him: Klay Thompson, Alec Burks, Markieff Morris, Marcus Morris
Players selected right after him: Nikola Vucevic, Iman Shumpert, Chris Singleton, Tobias Harris

Selected with the 65th overall pick (third round)

An important member of the Bad Boys Pistons who won back-to-back titles in the late ’80s,Bill Laimbeer made four All-Star appearances in his career and was the 1986 total rebound champion.

Laimbeer’s pre-draft story is an interesting one as he went to Notre Dame, flunked out, went to community college, went back to Notre Dame for two seasons as mostly a backup, averaged mundane numbers (roughly seven points and six rebounds per game) before then getting drafted in the third round by Cleveland. Laimbeer then spent one-and-a-half seasons with the Cavaliers before being traded to the Pistons, where he was the team’s starting center for pretty much the rest of his 14-year NBA career.

For a player to go from posting mediocre numbers in college as a backup to getting MVP votes (in 1983-84, Laimbeer finished 12th in the MVP vote) is pretty unheard of, to the point that one might be able to say the Cavaliers got pretty lucky with that draft pick, and would have looked like geniuses in hindsight if they had kept Laimbeer for his entire career.

So despite how unlikable of a player he was…

…kudos to Laimbeer for becoming one of the best draft picks in league history. He might even rank higher on this list if he had more success with the team that drafted him, the Cavs.

Players selected right before him: Ernesto Malcolm, Terry Crosby, Sylvester Norris, Al Green
Players selected right after him: Charles Floyd, Greg Deane, Nikos Galis, Euegene Robinson

Selected with the 48th overall pick (second round)

Marc Gasol first entered the NBA collective when his draft rights were traded by the Lakers to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for his older brother,Pau Gasol, who then won two championships alongside Kobe Bryant in L.A.

At first, this trade was seen as a huge fleecing by the Lakers considering no one had seen the younger Gasol, a second-round pick, play before. Marc Gasol was able to change minds, however, becoming one of the greatest Grizzlies player ever, making three All-Star appearances, making an All-NBA 1st Team and winning Defensive Player of the Year during his time in Memphis.

The Grizzlies became a perennial playoff team in the Gasol era, as the floor-spacing, playmaking, post-up center with great defensive skills became one of the better centers in the league. He even won an NBA championship in 2019, though that came after his time with the Grizzlies when he was already with the Toronto Raptors.

Regardless, that’s a whole lot of success for a mid-second-round pick, making Marc Gasol one of the best draft picks in league history.

Players selected right before him: Reyshawn Terry, Jared Jordan, Stephane Lasme, Dominic McGuire
Players selected right after him: Aaron Gray, Renaldas Seibutis, JamesOn Curry, Taurean Green

Selected with the 30th overall pick

After spending time in community college and at Marquette in what was merely a solid NCAA career, current Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler went 30th overall in the 2011 draft to the Bulls where he developed into one of the best two-way players in the game.

In Chicago, Butler won Most Improved Player, was a three-time All-Star and earned 3rd Team All-NBA honors once, impressive accomplishments from someone who barely went in the first round of the draft.

Butler has piled on the accolades since leaving Chicago, making three more 3rd Team All-NBAs and one 2nd Team All-NBA, reaching the NBA Finals twice, winning one Eastern Conference Finals MVP, all to go with his six total All-Star appearances, making him the best 30th-overall draft pick of all time.

Players selected right before him: Jordan Hamilton, JaJuan Johnson, Norris Cole, Cory Joseph
Players selected right after him: Bojan Bogdanovic, Justin Harper, Kyle Singler, Shelvin Mack

Selected with the 14th overall pick

Despite playing for an iconic NCAA squad alongside Hakeem Olajuwon at Houston (those teams became popularly known as Phi Slama Jama), Clyde Drexler still fell on draft night due to questions surrounding his shooting and overall scoring ability, as he never averaged more than 16 points per game in college.

However, even despite the fact that drafting Drexler probably cost the Blazers Michael Jordan the next year when they passed on him and drafted Sam Bowie instead, with the logic being they already had an athletic, talented 2-guard on the roster, Portland almost certainly wouldn’t regret the decision, as Drexler was a superstar for the team. Drexler would make eight All-Star appearances in Portland to go with two 2nd Team and one 3rd Team All-NBA, going so far as to lead Portland to the NBA Finals twice.

Drexler would end up attaining that elusive ring in 1994-95 as a member of the Houston Rockets, truly cementing himself as one of the best NBA draft picks ever.

Players selected right before him: Jeff Malone, Derek Harper, Darrell Walker, Ennis Whatley
Players selected right after him: Howard Carter, Jon Sundvold, Leo Rautins, Randy Breuer

Selected with the 35th overall pick (second round)

After a very good career at Michigan State that saw him become a Big Ten Player of the Year and a consensus 1st Team All-American, Warriors legend Draymond Green still slipped on draft night due to concerns about his size, athleticism and shooting ability, despite it seeming obvious that his toughness on the glass and defense, as well as his playmaking, could translate the NBA level.

Regardless, every team passed on Green at least once in the 2012 draft, including even the Warriors, who took Festuz Ezeli in the first round over Green.

Despite his shooting never really coming around, Green still went on to post what will be a very likely Hall-of-Fame career when it’s all said and done, as the former Spartan has won four NBA championships as a vital member of the dynasty Warriors, has made four All-Star appearances even without much scoring ability, has an NBA 2nd Team and 3rd Team under his belt and has won Defensive Player of the Year.

Without Green’s elite defense and toughness down low, which allowed the Warriors to blitz teams playing small with the now-34-year-old at center, as well as his playmaking, how many rings would this Golden State squad have today? Maybe two, as the Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry teams were pretty much unstoppable. But the 2015 and 2022 rings were game-changers for the Curry-era Warriors’ legacy, and Green was absolutely crucial to both of those title-winning runs.

Players selected right before him: Jeff Taylor, Tomas Satoransky, Bernard James, Jae Crowder
Players selected right after him: Orlando Johnson, Quincy Acy, Quincy Miller, Khris Middleton

Selected with the 19th overall pick (second round)

One of two players in league history to lead the league in scoring and assists in the same season (the other is Trae Young), Hall-of-Famer Tiny Archibald was the second pick of the 1970 second draft. (The first pick of the second round that year was actually a fellow Hall-of-Famer in Calvin Murphy – how’s that for a second round?)

A Top 6 MVP finisher three times in his career, Archibald was extremely productive prior to an Achilles injury when he was 28, averaging 24.8 points and 8.0 assists over the first seven seasons in the league. Archibald had three 1st Team and two 2nd Team All-NBAs in his career and was even able to acclimate well to becoming a role player for the Boston Celtics in the early ’80s, helping the team win the 1981 championship in more of a secondary role.

Archibald fell a bit on draft night due to a lack of size but wound up becoming one of the best draft picks ever for the franchise that is now the Sacramento Kings.

Players selected right before him: John Hummer, Gary Freeman, Mike Price, Calvin Murphy
Players selected right after him: Jake Ford, Rex Morgan, Doug Cook, Pete Cross

Selected with the 45th overall pick (fourth round)

Hall-of-Fame swingmanBob Dandridge was taken in the fourth round of the 1969 draft by Milwaukee, where he spent the first eight years of his career, a stretch that saw him win an NBA championship in his sophom*ore campaign as a vital player for the Bucks’ title run of 1971, while also making three All-Star appearances and even earning MVP votes in 1975-76.

Dandridge would have one more outright elite season and it came in 1978-79 as a member of the Washington Bullets, where he earned a Top 5 MVP finish, was 2nd Team All-NBA and an All-Star. That came the year after Dandridge played a role in another championship run as part of Washington’s 1977-78 title win. Dandridge averaged over 21 points during that playoff run for the Bullets.

You can’t ask for a much better career out of a fourth-round pick.

Players selected right before him: Luther Green, Mike Grosso, Fred Carter, Dennis Stewart
Players selected right after him: Butch Booker, Ted Weirman, Dave Nash, Johnnie Allen

Selected with the 23rd overall pick (second round)

Despite having elite size for a wing and putting up good numbers as a four-year starter at South Carolina, scoring maestro Alex English fell to the second round of the 1976 draft where he was selected 23rd overall by Milwaukee.

English spent two quiet seasons with the Bucks before signing with the Indiana Pacers in free agency. An improved-but-still-mundane season-and-a-half stint in Indiana ultimately ended with English being traded to the Nuggets, where his career really took off as the Hall-of-Famer would spend the next 10-and-a-half seasons in Denver, becoming a superstar.

English made eight All-Star appearances as a Nugget and three 2nd Team All-NBAs while winning the 1983 scoring title. English would also receive MVP votes in six separate seasons, finishing as high as sixth in the vote in ’83.

Although all of that scoring didn’t lead to huge team success for English, there’s no question the former second-round pick was one of the best draft selections of all time.

Players selected right before him: Bayard Forrest, Major Jones, Earl Tatum, Johnny Davis
Players selected right after him: Scott Lloyd, Lonnie Shelton, Jacky Dorsey, Phil Hicks

Selected with the 27th overall pick

A late first-round pick who has gone on to become one of the best defenders in NBA history, French big manRudy Gobert was quite raw prior to getting to the NBA, putting up very mundane numbers in France before entering the 2013 draft.

But his absurd wingspan (7-foot-8.5) and standing reach (9-foot-7) got him drafted in the first round anyway, by the Denver Nuggets originally who traded his rights to the Jazz for Erick Green, who was the 46th pick that year, and cash. Needless to say, Utah won that trade pretty handily, as Gobert went on to win three Defensive Player of the Year awards with the Jazz and turned them into a perennial playoff team during his time there.

Gobert deserves a ton of credit for his development, becoming a solid offensive player around the basket and improving his lateral quickness so he doesn’t get too badly exposed on defense by opposing guards. Either way, he will be remembered as one of the best value draft picks of all time.

Players selected right before him: Solomon Hill, Tim Hardaway Jr., Reggie Bullock, Andre Roberson
Players selected right after him: Livio Jean-Charles, Archie Goodwin, Nemanja Nedovic, Allen Crabbe

Selected with the 24th overall pick

It took until Latrell Sprewell’s fourth season in college to finally break out as a student-athlete at Alabama, and that was after two campaigns of community college ball, so that would explain why the Wisconsin native fell to being the 24th pick in the 1992 draft.

The pick worked out well for the Warriors, though, as Sprewell made three All-Star teams in Golden State, had a 1st Team All-NBA campaign and even earned MVP votes one year with the Warriors.

Sprewell would go on to have some more success as a member of the Knicks and Timberwolves to establish himself as one of the better late first-round picks in league history.

Players selected right before him: Hubert Davis, Jon Barry, Oliver Miller, Lee Mayberry
Players selected right after him: Elmore Spencer, Dave Johnson, Byron Houston, Marlon Maxey

Selected with the 33rd overall pick (second round)

If we run this exercise again in a few years, there’s a good chanceJalen Brunson will fly up this list, especially considering the trajectory he’s been on over recent seasons.

Brunson has been so good he looks like the type of player you can win a championship behind, as his scoring is elite, he can get to the foul line, he can create for others and he can make very tough shots. And if he takes another leap in production, things could get scary for New York Knicks rivals.

It’s just unfortunate for Dallas that it wasn’t able to keep the gem it drafted around for longer, because this version of Brunson alongside Luka Doncic looks like it could have been championship material.

Either way, what a pick by Dallas to land the former Villanova standout with the 33rd overall selection. Brunson now has one All-Star and one 2nd Team All-NBA under his belt, and it looks like he’s just getting started with this legitimate star-level portion of his career.

Players selected right before him: Dzanan Musa, Omari Spellman, Elie Okobo, Jevon Carter
Players selected right after him: Devonte Graham, Melvin Frazier, Mitchell Robinson, Gary Trent Jr.