Ranking the Greatest Draft Classes in NBA History
For all the talk you've surely heard about the 2020 NBA draft lacking star power, it will put players in the All-Star Game at some point.
Every draft eventually does. Even the 2000 talent grab, which can make a case for being the weakest in history, saw Kenyon Martin, Michael Redd and Jamaal Magloire all partake in the globe's greatest pickup game.
But star power obviously fluctuates one year to the next, and when an usual amount of elites surface in the same class, that's when you start talking about an all-timer.
The league has witnessed several such star-studded classes, and we're out to identify the best of the best. While ultimately a subjective distinction, we're weighing everything from stars and accolades to traditional stats and analytics to crown the five best drafts in NBA history.
Honorable Mention
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No draft class sent more players to the Hall of Fame than this one. Seven different players eventually earned enshrinement: Nate Archibald, Dave Cowens, Dan Issel, Bob Lanier, Pete Maravich, Calvin Murphy and Charlie Scott. Another five players from this talent grab earned All-Star honors: John Johnson, Sam Lacey, Geoff Petrie, Randy Smith and Rudy Tomjanovich (who made the Hall as a coach).
While Lanier, a walking double-double, stands as the draft's only player to post 100 or more career win shares, Issel might've paced the group had he not spent his first six seasons in the ABA. Couple his work there with his nine seasons spent in the Association, and he amassed 157.8 win shares, good for 23rd on the all-time leaderboard.
This class ran a bit too top-heavy to qualify for an official spot, but the conversation would be incomplete without a mention of the draft that delivered Dirk Nowitzki, Paul Pierce and Vince Carter. All three were infamously drafted behind No. 1 pick Michael Olowokandi, a true bust for the ages.
Only five players made All-Star appearancesโRashard Lewis and Antawn Jamison were the othersโbut Nowitzki, Pierce and Carter secured annual passes to the festivities. That trio will all reside in the Hall of Fame one day. Nowitzki won an MVP and a Finals MVP and provided the sixth-most points in NBA history. Pierce was a 10-time All-Star and Finals MVP. Carter made eight All-Star appearances over his legendary career, which just came to a close this summer.
This was a tough class to keep out of the top five, because drafts are defined by their stars and this yielded two generational talents. Stephen Curry and James Harden still have chapters to write, but their resumes already feature three MVP awards, 13 All-NBA selections, four scoring titles and metric tons of three-point bombs.
The class has produced four other All-Stars, including Blake Griffin, who has worked around multiple medical woes to earn five All-NBA selections and aย third-place finish in the 2013-14 MVP voting. DeMar DeRozan, Jeff Teague and Jrue Holiday round out the All-Stars, while Taj Gibson, Danny Green, Ricky Rubio and Patrick Beverley rank among its many reliable role players.
Finding this draft's historical spot would be much easier with a time machine. If Kawhi Leonard makes a push into history's top 10 or 15, that could be the lift this class needs to definitively rank among the greats.
The first pick (Kyrie Irving) and last pick (Isaiah Thomas) have both earned All-Star honors, as have five other players in between. That includes Leonard, a two-time Defensive Player of the Year and two-time Finals MVP, and Klay Thompson, a three-time champion and two-time All-NBA honoree. Jimmy Butler, Kemba Walker and Nikola Vucevic round out the impressive collection of stars.
5. 1987
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Throughout NBA history, 109 players have tallied 90-plus career win shares. Six of them emerged from this draft.
The crown jewel was David Robinson, who had his debut delayed two years by naval service and immediately proved worth the wait. He averaged 24.3 points, 12.0 rebounds and 3.9 blocks as a rookie, opening a seven-year stretch in which he averaged at least 23 points, 10 boards and three blocks. For context, Hakeem Olajuwon (seven) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (six) were the only other players to ever have more than two such seasons.
Robinson was a 10-time All-NBA selection, eight-time All-Defensive selection, a Defensive Player of the Year and an MVP. That resume earned him top billing ahead of draft classmates Scottie Pippen, a seven-time All-Star and six-time champion, and Reggie Miller, a five-time All-Star and revolutionary shooter.
Horace Grant, a four-time champion, Kevin Johnson, a three-time All-Star, and Mark Jackson, a Rookie of the Year and one-time All-Star, completed the draft's 90-win-shares club.
Reggie Lewis was the class' seventh All-Star. He averaged 20.8 points in consecutive seasons before dying on a practice court at the age of 27.
4. 1985
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Since 1980, only two drafts have produced at least 10 All-Stars. One holds the No. 2 spot on our list. The other is this group.
Patrick Ewing was the highly sought-after No. 1 pick and certainly didn't disappoint. He was an All-Star in 11 of his first 12 NBA seasons. He was named All-NBA seven times and had six top-five finishes in MVP voting.
But when history views this draft, it starts the discussion with Karl Malone. The Mailman delivered with such regularity it's hard to point to the most impressive spot on his resume. It's probably his 36,928 points (second all-time) or two MVP awards, but we should also note he's one of only six players with at least 14 All-NBA honors. And oh yeah, he's fourth all-time with 234.63 win shares and one of four members of the 30,000-point, 10,000-rebound club.
While it seems strange to label Hall of Famers Joe Dumars and Chris Mullin as leaders of the supporting cast, that's the role they fill in this overloaded draft. They had 11 All-Star selections between them and both topped 15,000 career points. Fellow All-Stars Detlef Schrempf and Terry Porter also cleared that scoring mark.
Somehow, there's still four All-Stars left: A.C. Green, Charles Oakley, Xavier McDaniel and Michael Adams. All four spent more than a decade in the league, a mark reached by an incredible 25 players in this draft.
3. 2003
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From on-court brilliance to off-court player empowerment, the 2003 class has left several indelible marks on this league. The fact it only holds down the third spot here has little to do with any shortcomings and everything to do with the basketball gods having granted us three historic drafts that rank a cut above the rest.
LeBron James, the draft's No. 1 pick, doesn't even put his group at the top. At least, he didn't when given the opportunity in a 2017 interview with HypeBeast's Mallory Chin.
"We are not the best; we are right up there," James told Chin. "You know you obviously got the '96 draft; you got the '84 draft that's right up there. So for us to even be mentioned as one of the greatest drafts that the NBA has ever seen is an honor."
Save for the Detroit Pistons' selection of Darko Milicic second overall, every other club with a top-five pick hit a moon-shot home run. Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade went third, fourth and fifth, respectively, and each compiled 100-plus career win shares.
This draft had more to offer, totaling nine All-Star representatives along the way. There were some really good players in that group (including David West and Kyle Korver), but 2003 gets its all-time credentials from that four-headed juggernaut at the top.
James, a four-time MVP and four-time Finals MVP, is turning the NBA record books into a scrapbook of his accomplishments. Anthony remains a walking bucket. Wade and Bosh starred on their own and then aced their supporting roles on James-led championship runs with the Miami Heat. All told, that quartet claims 50 All-Star appearances, 31 All-NBA honors and nine championships.
2. 1996
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The 1996 draft balanced top-level talent with depth, resulting in the second-greatest class in NBA history.
Starting on the top shelf, three different MVPs came out of this draft, including a repeat winner. Top pick Allen Iverson earned the first nod in 2000-01, when the 6'0", 165-pound scoring guard willed his Philadelphia 76ers to 56 wins and their first Finals berth in nearly 20 years.
Up next was Steve Nash, who went back-to-back in 2004-05 and 2005-06 while piloting the Phoenix Suns' "Seven Seconds or Less" offense with machine-like precision. Then the hardware finally landed with the late, great Kobe Bryant, who captured the award in 2007-08 but could've won it any number of years with 11 different top-five finishes in the voting.
Iverson won four scoring titles and three steal titles and led the league in minutes per game seven times. Bryant secured a pair of scoring crowns, won five championships and was a two-time Finals MVP. Nash captured five assist titles, led the league in free-throw accuracy twice and exited his 18-year career with a wildly efficient 49.0/42.8/90.4 shooting slash.
Quite the start for this class, right? There's more.
Ray Allen was a 10-time All-Star who still stands atop the all-time leaderboard in three-pointers. He also connected on one of the most iconic shots in NBA Finals history. Jermaine O'Neal, Stephon Marbury, Peja Stojakovic, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Antoine Walker and Shareef Abdur-Rahim all made at least one All-Star Game, and everyone but Abdur-Rahim went more than once.
Not included in that group were Marcus Camby, 2006-07's Defensive Player of the Year, Derek Fisher, a five-time champion or Kerry Kittles, who averaged better than 14 points before injuries cut his career short.
This class had almost everythingโother than hoops history's greatest draft classmate quartet.
1. 1984
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One generational great can single-handedly get a draft class noticed. But when four are plucked from the same talent grab? That doesn't seem possible.
And yet, here we are. As silly as the James-Wade-Anthony-Bosh foursome looks, 1984's top quadrumvirate was even more power-packed.
Hakeem Olajuwon was first off the board and later anchored a pair of championship runs with the Houston Rockets. Michael Jordan went third and is now one of two allowable responses in the GOAT debate. Charles Barkley landed fifth and started the 20,000-point, 10,000-rebound, 4,000-assist and 1,500-steal club, of which he's still one of just three members. John Stockton went 16th and became the all-time leader in assists and steals.
Each achieved an almost mythical status as their numbers reached further into absurdity. Together, they made 47 All-Star rosters, 45 All-NBA teams and 23 All-Defensive squads. They claimed 10 scoring crowns, nine assist titles and three rebound titles and won eight championships and seven MVP awards.
"It was just an incredible class," Kevin Willis, the No. 11 pick, told Rolling Stone's Bryan Crawford in 2014.ย "You've got Michael Jordan, the best player to ever play the game, bar none. Charles Barkley, one of the best power forwards to ever play. Hakeem, who was one of the top five centers the league has ever seen, and Stockton was just unbelievable."
It wasn't a four-player draft, of course.
Willis, Alvin Robertson and Otis Thorpe all emerged as All-Stars. Sam Perkins topped 100 win shares. Jerome Kersey and Michael Cage played a combined 32 NBA seasons. While sixth-round pick Oscar Schmidt never came to the NBA, it's worth noting his international play earned him a Hall of Fame spot alongside Jordan, Olajuwon, Stockton and Barkley.
This isn't the deepest draft in history, but it's the best collection of special talent the game has ever seen. Given the oversized impact of elites in basketball, it only makes sense to side with the most star power.
All stats courtesy of NBA.com and Basketball Reference unless otherwise noted.
Zach Buckley covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @ZachBuckleyNBA.
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