The Best NBA Rookie Debuts Since 2000

Karl-Anthony Towns, Jahlil Okafor, D'Angelo Russell, Kristaps Porzingis and the other members of this year's rookie class have a lot to live up to in their first tastes of real NBA action. 

Since 2000, the Association has witnessed plenty of impressive debuts. Many rookies have begun their careers in strong fashion, racking up points, rebounds and assists while playing lockdown defense and maintaining noteworthy levels of efficiency. 

Of course, that hasn't guaranteed a successful career. As you look through the 10 best opening games of the last 15 seasons, you'll notice plenty of superstars who began their work in promising fashion. But you'll also see names you might not recognize, as well as a few players who never exactly reached celestial status. 

The order here is determined by using an adjusted version of Game Score, one that weighs efficient shooting a bit more heavily, decreases the negative impact of personal fouls and includes the result of the contest in the analysis. Basically, put together a strong all-around performance while helping lead your team to victory, and you're doing well for yourself. 

The No. 1 finisher here may be just about untouchable, but that's still whom each member of this year's rookie class should have his sights set on while beginning his own career.

10. Damian Lillard

Sam Forencich/Getty Images

Team: Portland Trail Blazers

Game Date: Oct. 31, 2012

Stat Line: 23 points, three rebounds, 11 assists, one steal

Game Result: 116-109 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers

It didn't take long for Damian Lillard to assert himself as a scoring force.

Fresh out of Weber State, he was ready to thrive as a professional. The level of competition might not have been particularly high while playing in a non-major conference, but he did have the luxury of learning how to face stiff defensive attention every night while running a pick-and-roll offense that resembled so much of what he'd implement in the Association. 

Against the Los Angeles Lakers, Lillard knocked down seven of his 17 shots from the field but made up for his inefficiency by getting to the line eight times and connecting on every attempt. Turnovers plagued him, as he coughed up the ball on six separate possessions, but his 11 assists were enough to put Rip City over the top against a much-ballyhooed Lakers squad featuring Dwight Howard, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Steve Nash. 

In fact, when the dynamic floor general was on the court, the Portland Trail Blazers outscored their opponent by 16 points. That gave Lillard his team's No. 2 plus/minus on the night, one point shy of Meyers Leonard's mark in 23 minutes off the bench. 

9. Emeka Okafor

Kent Smith/Getty Images

Team: Charlotte Bobcats

Game Date: Nov. 4, 2004

Stat Line: 19 points, 10 rebounds, one assist, one block

Game Result: 103-96 loss to the Washington Wizards

Long before neck injuries basically forced him to disappear from the NBA, Emeka Okafor was the No. 2 pick of the 2004 NBA draft. Fresh out of Connecticut, he was supposed to be a franchise-changing presence in the Charlotte Bobcats frontcourt, dominating on the defensive end as he grew into a top offensive option. 

Though Okafor never ascended to an All-Star level, he did get off to a promising start by throwing up a double-double in his debut against the Washington Wizards. The big man was constantly on the attack, and that aggressive mentality resulted in double-digit free-throw attempts—he went 9-of-10. 

But perhaps the most impressive part of his performance was that he kept the 'Cats close against a Wizards team that would go on to win 45 games and advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals. On the flip side, Charlotte struggled its way to an 18-64 record throughout that expansion season. 

During the opening outing, the Bobcats had nine players record at least 10 minutes on the court: Okafor, Gerald Wallace, Primoz Brezec, Brevin Knight, Jason Kapono, Steve Smith, Jason Hart, Melvin Ely and Eddie House. With the exception of Okafor, every one of them recorded a negative plus/minus.

The No. 2 pick, however, helped Charlotte top Washington by three points during his 32 minutes of action. 

8. Ty Lawson

Garrett Ellwood/Getty Images

Team: Denver Nuggets

Game Date: Oct. 28, 2009

Stat Line: 17 points, four rebounds, six assists, one steal

Game Result: 114-105 victory over the Utah Jazz

Playing against a Utah Jazz team that would go on to win 52 games didn't make for an easy debut, especially when Ty Lawson's positional matchup involved squaring off against Deron Williams. The Salt Lake City point guard was firmly in the midst of his prime, beginning the first of his three consecutive All-Star seasons. 

But the speedy Lawson, who came off the bench to spell Chauncey Billups for the Denver Nuggets, didn't look overmatched in his first taste of NBA action. Though he struggled to find his stroke from the perimeter, he engineered a number of impressive possessions in the Pepsi Center, finishing with six assists to just a single turnover. 

Plus, he got better down the stretch. 

Heading into the fourth quarter, the Nuggets were only up two points, and Lawson had been a relative non-factor in the scoring column. But he helped spark a run that put this contest out of reaching, boosting his point total from 10 to 17 at the start of the final period. 

7. Blake Griffin

Team: Los Angeles Clippers

Game Date: Oct. 27, 2010

Stat Line: 20 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, one steal

Game Result: 98-88 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers

Could Blake Griffin's NBA career have begun in any other fashion than with a monstrous alley-oop slam in transition? A sign of things to come, that first bucket set the stage for an incredible rookie season—one that involved an All-Star berth and per-game averages of 22.5 points and 12.1 rebounds. 

As Ramona Shelburne posited for ESPN, it didn't take long for him to leave absolutely zero doubt he was the man capable of re-energizing a downtrodden franchise: 

"

It's too early, and he's too young. But the sooner the Clippers become Blake Griffin's team, the sooner they'll stop being the most over-punched line in the NBA.

It took about five minutes of watching Griffin energize the Clippers' perpetually disappointed fans in his NBA debut at Staples Center on Wednesday night against the Portland Trail Blazers to come to that conclusion.

It took another five minutes of watching the air rush out of the building when Griffin came out for a break with two fouls late in the first quarter to underscore that thought beyond any reasonable doubt.

"

Sure, the ultimate outcome of Griffin's debut was a Los Angeles Clippers loss. But he was still a huge bright spot for the struggling organization, finishing with 20 points, 14 rebounds and four assists.

Those numbers, amazingly enough, haven't been posted by any other player in a career debut since 1985-86, when the range of Basketball-Reference.com's Play Finder begins. 

6. Thabo Sefolosha

Nathaniel S. Butler/Getty Images

Team: Chicago Bulls

Game Date: Oct. 31, 2006

Stat Line: 11 points, two rebounds, one assist, two steals

Game Result: 108-66 victory over the Miami Heat

You don't necessarily need glamorous statistical totals to have a fantastic debut. They typically help quite a bit—especially since an adjusted version of Game Score is serving as the basis for these rankings—but they aren't altogether vital. 

Such was the case for Thabo Sefolosha, who came off the bench for the Chicago Bulls during the first game of his professional career and proceeded to play fantastic defense without missing a single shot from the field. The Swiss stopper spent under 11 minutes on the court—less than everyone else who got into the action for the Windy City—but made every second count. 

In that short time, he made all four of his shots from the field, went 3-of-3 from the charity stripe and committed exactly zero turnovers. It was everything you could possibly want to see in such a short stretch, especially when it was coming against a Miami Heat team fresh off winning an NBA title. 

Looking at Sefolosha's ratings makes it even clearer how special his debut was.

He posted a scorching offensive rating of 216, a mark that made all others produced by his team pale in comparison. Chris Duhon came off the bench with a 189 offensive rating, while no starter topped Kirk Hinrich's 146. And Sefolosha was similarly excellent on the less glamorous end, recording a mind-numbing 60 defensive rating that fell just behind Tyrus Thomas (59) for the top mark on the squad. 

Don't be fooled by his uninspiring stat line. This was still one of the best debuts in recent memory, albeit in limited action. 

5. Gordan Giricek

Team: Memphis Grizzlies

Game Date: Oct. 30, 2002

Stat Line: 29 points, five rebounds, one assist, one steal

Game Result: 119-108 loss to the Dallas Mavericks

Why is there a video of Gordan Giricek's highlights from the 2003 NBA Rookie Challenge? Because he was such a nondescript player for the Memphis Grizzlies that it's the most appropriate media we can find, despite his posting a ridiculous 29 points off the bench in his career debut. 

First, let's put that in historical perspective. Since 1985-86, he's one of only four players to score as many points in the first game of an NBA career, joining Willie Anderson, Allen Iverson and Lamar Odom. Giricek was the only man to post such a total while starting a game on the pine, and he achieved the feat on the fewest shots from the field.

Plus, the other three were all top-10 picks; the Croatian swingman was drafted at No. 40 in 1999 and continued playing overseas for a few years before joining the Association.

But looking only at Giricek's career makes this even more shocking.

He averaged 12.3 points per game during his rookie season, which saw him traded from the Grizzlies to the Orlando Magic midway through the year. He'd never again match that total, and his 29-point explosion against the Dallas Mavericks remained one of the premier showings of his career. 

Only twice did he break into the 30s, and his unadjusted game score never rose above the number he established as a high-water mark during his first taste of NBA action. 

4. LeBron James

Rocky Widner/Getty Images

Team: Cleveland Cavaliers

Game Date: Oct. 29, 2003

Stat Line: 25 points, six rebounds, nine assists, four steals

Game Result: 106-92 loss to the Sacramento Kings

If Gordan Giricek was a relatively anonymous player when he made his career debut, LeBron James was anything but. Greeted with the type of fanfare that typically accompanies actual royalty, King James was one of the most celebrated prospects in quite some time when he first threw on a Cleveland Cavaliers jersey. 

And though his team couldn't get the better of the Sacramento Kings, he didn't exactly disappoint, submitting a well-rounded line that was also accompanied by impressive levels of efficiency for a prep-to-pro rookie making his career debut. Though he didn't hit any shots from beyond the arc and struggled at the charity stripe, James shot 12-of-20 from the field and turned the ball over just twice while recording his nine dimes.

Other than J.R. Bremer, who played a fairly sizable role off the bench against the Kings, James was the only member of the Cavs to post an offensive rating (123) greater than his defensive rating (112).

"He obviously was good tonight. He's got a lot of talent. He gets to the basket, he sees the floor," Rick Adelman, then the head coach for Sacramento, said to the Associated Press after the debut, per ESPN.com. "For the first game, you had to be impressed."

Frankly, it was an impressive outing no matter what. It didn't have to be a first game for that. 

Since James entered the league, only 29 different players have managed to post 25 points, six rebounds, nine assists and four steals during a single showing even once. This was the first of 14 such games for the four-time MVP, and he remains one of just three to submit such a line during the first 50 games of a professional career. 

3. James Singleton

Jeff Reinking/Getty Images

Team: Los Angeles Clippers

Game Date: Nov. 2, 2005

Stat Line: 14 points, 10 rebounds, one assist, one steal, one block

Game Result: 101-93 victory over the Seattle SuperSonics

Throughout James Singleton's entire NBA career, he recorded a grand total of 13 double-doubles. Interestingly enough, the first two came in his first two appearances for the Los Angeles Clippers, highlighted by this uber-efficient showing in a victory over the Seattle SuperSonics. 

Singleton didn't just drop 14 points and 10 rebounds to go along with the rest of his scattered contributions. He did so while knocking down seven of his eight looks from the field and never turning the ball over so much as a single time.

In fact, Singleton actually submitted LAC's top plus/minus on the night (plus-24), beating out Sam Cassell (plus-16) and everyone else on the roster by a rather significant amount. He had to come off the bench in order to make an impact—only natural for a player who went undrafted out of Murray State two seasons prior—but he didn't let his role deter him that early on in his professional career.

However, that didn't last for long.

The forward finished his rookie season averaging 3.4 points and 3.3 rebounds, failing to live up to the hype he generated after the opening contest. He'd spent the last two years playing in Italy, and he only lasted another two in the NBA before departing for Spain and subsequently bouncing between the NBA and international leagues for the rest of his career. 

At least he'll always have Nov. 2, 2005 to look back upon fondly. 

2. T.J. Ford

Ron Hoskins/Getty Images

Team: Milwaukee Bucks

Game Date: Oct. 31, 2003

Stat Line: 11 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists, two steals, one block

Game Result: 93-79 victory over the Indiana Pacers

Point guards don't nearly record triple-doubles very often, especially when the assist column is the one that sees them fall just short of history. That's doubly true during a career debut, though T.J. Ford accomplished that feat with 11 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists against the Indiana Pacers back in 2003. 

Since 1985-86, Ford is actually the only player to hit those marks in his first NBA contest. Even if we drop the criteria to 10 points, 10 boards and five dimes, he's part of an exclusive club that contains only him, LaPhonso Ellis and Grant Hill. Five, five and five? That's just a 27-player group—fairly few given the fact that we're looking at 30 seasons' worth of eligible candidates for this particular stat. 

But Ford didn't just throw up big numbers. He was also an efficient floor general for the Bucks, going 5-of-7 from the field and turning the ball over only two times while hounded by an Indiana defense that included Kenny Anderson, Reggie Miller and Ron Artest. 

Sadly, spinal injuries and brief bouts with temporary paralysis wrecked what was once a promising career. And it was one that got off to a great—ultimately misleading—start with this dominant win over the Pacers. 

1. Michael Carter-Williams

Team: Philadelphia 76ers

Game Date: Oct. 30, 2013

Stat Line: 22 points, seven rebounds, 12 assists, nine steals

Game Result: 114-110 victory over the Miami Heat

Heading into their clash with the Philadelphia 76ers, the Miami Heat were 1-0, on the heels of two consecutive championships. Dwyane Wade wasn't healthy, but LeBron James and Chris Bosh were supposed to be more than enough against a rebuilding Sixers squad led by a raw rookie point guard.

Before James knocked down a shot with seven minutes, eight seconds remaining in the first quarter, Philadelphia was up 19-0, and Michael Carter-Williams had already arrived as a force, recording five points and three steals. The first-year floor general would finish the contest staving off the Heat's best shots and falling just three boards and a single steal shy of a quadruple-double. 

If I hadn't been fortunate enough to watch this one live, I'd have trouble believing it really happened. It was easily the best debut of the last 10 years. Given the circumstances, you can make a convincing argument it was the best of all time. 

"No player—rookie or otherwise—has matched that stat line (points, assists, rebounds and steals) in any game since 1985," Ben Golliver wrote for Sports Illustrated. "ESPN Stats & Information notes that it's been achieved only twice in NBA history."

Frankly, we could spend all day discussing statistical anomalies from this one performance.

Nine steals are that incredibly rare. Especially from a first-year player. Especially when coupled with an impressive 20/10 game in points and assists. Especially when joined in the stat line by seven rebounds. Especially when a player turns the ball over just once and makes four threes. 

But perhaps the craziest thing about this debut was how out of character those numbers have become for Carter-Williams himself.

A few years later, he still hasn't learned how to shoot with any semblance of consistency, making this the lone game in which he's knocked down at least four looks from downtown. Entering the 2015-16 campaign, he has yet to record more than seven thefts again, and he's only topped five once since the conclusion of his Rookie of the Year season. 

Still, all of that grows even more impressive when you remember the circumstances, led by the matchup with a four-time MVP and the back-to-back champions. As James himself said after that Miami loss, per Bud Poliquin of Syracuse.com, "'I couldn't think of a better way to start your NBA career." 

Since 2000, no one can. 

All stats, unless otherwise indicated, come from Basketball-Reference.com.

Adam Fromal covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter:@fromal09.