No stars have revealed themselves in the 2024 NBA Draft, but history tells us they’re hiding in plain sight

Brewing surprises and week-of excitement have happily clouded the fact that the 2024 NBA Draft, which begins Wednesday, is the worst crop of incoming talent the league has seen since at least 2013. 

We’ve seen it coming for years now: There is no clear No. 1 or glaring star power atop the draft, and now, even the overall depth of the field has diminished after more prospects than ever elected to return to college, thanks in large part to a booming NIL market.

If history is any indication, though, even bad drafts offer hidden value. Sleepers will be found. 

This upcoming draft is often compared to 2013, another draft that was billed as a poor one. Anthony Bennett was the top overall pick, and he’s gone down as one of the worst in NBA history. The rest of the top five was Victor Oladipo, Otto Porter Jr., Cody Zeller, and Alex Len.

But after several other underwhelming picks, the Milwaukee Bucks changed the direction of their franchise for the next decade when they made Giannis Antetokounmpo the No. 14 overall pick. Later in the first round, the Utah Jazz selected the future four-time Defensive Player of the Year, Rudy Gobert, at 27.

The moral of the story: Even the worst draft of the last decade had some very legitimate star power.

Take a deeper dive into recent draft history and you find that each and every year, there is at least one player drafted who goes on to become an unexpected star. Jimmy Butler was the 30th pick in 2011, Draymond Green was 35th in 2012, Nikola Jokic was 41st in 2014, Devin Booker was 15th in 2015, Pascal Siakam was 27th in 2016, Bam Adebayo was 14th in 2017, Jalen Brunson was 33rd in 2018, and the list continues with each passing year.

When a team successfully finds these sleepers, it can significantly alter the future of their franchise. Of the nine players mentioned above, four have won NBA championships, seven have been to the NBA Finals, and all nine have been to the conference finals.

Why weren’t those ‘sleepers’ drafted higher?

By studying these “steals,” we can start to uncover some…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/no-stars-have-revealed-themselves-in-the-2024-nba-draft-but-history-tells-us-theyre-hiding-in-plain-sight/

Author : Adam Finkelstein

Publish date : 2024-06-24 01:23:27

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.