Biggest steals of the NBA Draft

For many players selected in tomorrow’s NBA Draft, their name being called by the commissioner will be the highlight of their young basketball careers. Some are expecting to be taken with lottery picks, others are just hoping to hear their name called at some point over the two-round, 58-pick NBA draft that awaits us from Brooklyn, New York.

Not much buzz around this year’s Draft

This year’s draft is shrouded with a bit more mystery than drafts in the past. There is considerably less hype surrounding the top players tabbed to be taken with the top picks during Wednesday’s first round. There is no Victor Wembanyama, there is no Zion Williamson nor is there a LeBron James in this draft.

Players like Zaccharie Risacher, Alex Sarr and Donovan Clingan are at the top of the wish list for teams like Atlanta, Washington and Houston who have the first three picks in the draft, but this might be one of those drafts where you have some gems hidden a little lower down the board.

The league’s best players don’t always have to come from lottery picks. There are plenty of cases in the past and present of players being selected outside of those coveted first few picks that go on to change the landscape of the league. Just look at the MVP of the NBA in six years. Five of those awards have been won by two of the guys on our list.

It may be controversial, but we are going to leave out players drafted in lottery spots (top 14 picks in the draft) like Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone and Devin Booker.

Tony Parker

Drafted 28th by San Antonio Spurs in 2001 NBA Draft

The Frenchman exploded onto the scene in his rookie season, earning the starting point guard job not long after debuting for Gregg Popovich’s San Antonio Spurs. He played for nearly two decades, winning four NBA titles while making up one of the most feared point guard centers in the history of the league with Tim Duncan. He went from nearly not making the team to having his jersey retired by the Spurs in a career that saw him make six All-Star games and win a Finals MVP in 2007, but strangely enough he was not named to the to the NBA 75 greatest players

Draymond Green

Drafted 35th by Golden State Warriors in NBA Draft

Green was taken in the second round of the 2012 NBA Draft after being named a first team All-American and winning a handful of national and Big Ten awards at Michigan State University. In his 12 years in the league, all spent with the Warriors, he has won four NBA Championships, and been named to four All-Star Games. He has come to be known as the quarterback and enforcer on the Warriors team that was the last dynasty the NBA has seen. He is a defensive mastermind, winning Defensive Player of the Year in 2017 and made the All-Defensive First Team four times.

Manu Ginobili

Drafted 57th by San Antonio Spurs in NBA Draft

Manu is another one of those gems that the Spurs found deep in the draft after a quick but successful career overseas. He is known as the greatest Latin American player in the history of the NBA, and is the creator of one of the most famous moves in the current era of the league, the euro step. He not only won four NBA titles with Tony Parker and the Spurs after being taken 57th in the 1999 Draft, but he led Argentina to Olympic Gold in the 2004 Olympics. He was only a two time All-Star, but is widely regarded as the best sixth man in this history of the league. He won the Euroleague the year before getting drafted by San Antonio and continued winning almost immediately after entering the league. Like Parker, he is not included in the NBA 75 Greatest Player list, but has his number 20 retired by the Spurs.

Giannis Antetokoumpo

Drafted 15th by Milwaukee Bucks in 2013 NBA Draft

The skinny teenager from Greece has turned into one of the most dominant forces the league has ever seen. It took him a while to get accustomed to the speed, size and strength of the players in the league. His first few years in the NBA, he was developing a body and a skill set that would make him into an MVP candidate. In his 11 years in the league, he has won back-to-back MVPs in 2019 and 2020 and followed that up with an NBA Championship in 2021. He is an 8 time All-Star, a six time member of the NBA First Team and was named the Defensive Player of the Year in 2020. He is still in his prime and he is looking to take the Bucks back to the Finals after a disappointing early exit from the playoffs this season.

Nikola Jokic

Drafted 41st by Denver Nuggets in 2014 NBA Draft

If you asked the Denver Nuggets front office members if they would have expected Nikola Jokic to turn into one of the best players the game has ever seen, they would tell you absolutely not. If you ask Nikola himself, he would probably be indifferent to the question, and then eventually tell you no, he didn’t expect to be in this situation, but here he is. A three time NBA MVP, and a one time champion. This year, the six time All-Star joined an elite list of players who have won the MVP three times. Moses Malone, Magic Johnson, Wilt Chamberlain, and Larry Bird all won three. Only Bill Russell (4), LeBron James (4), Michael Jordan (5) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (6) have more. Forty other players were taken in the 2014 NBA Draft, but none have made more of an impact on the league than the Joker.