NBA: Ranking every team based off draft success over the last 20 years

18 of 31

NBA Indiana Pacers Malcolm Brogdon (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

14. Milwaukee Bucks: 35.5 points

2000: Michael Redd: 6 (1x all-star, 1x 3rd team, double points for second-round pick)
2005: Andrew Bogut: 2 (1x 3rd team)
2011: Tobias Harris: 0.5
2013: Giannis Antetokounmpo: 28.5 (4x all-star, 1x MVP, 1x 1st team, 2x 2nd team, 1.5x multiplier for pick outside of lottery)
2014: Jabari Parker: -2 (bust with 2nd overall pick)
2016: Malcolm Brogdon: 0.5

Man, what a difference one player can make, right? After the Bucks traded Ray Allen to Seattle in 2003 for a stick of bubble gum and a sixer of diet Coke (28 games of Gary Payton’s ghost and Desmond Mason)**, the Bucks didn’t get out of the first round again until their MVP winner, Giannis Antetokounmpo, took them to the Eastern Conference Finals last summer.

The Bucks are really a story of hope for all of the worst drafting teams in the NBA. If they didn’t strike gold with Giannis outside of the lottery in 2013, they’d rank 26th on this list. So keep your head up Hornets, Pistons, and Knicks fans! You’re one mostly lucky pick away from turning the whole thing around!

**Footnote: I really struggled with which player I thought was bubble gum and which was diet Coke in this trade. I think I settled on Gary Payton’s ghost being bubble gum and Desmond Mason being the sixer of diet Coke. My logic: bubble gum doesn’t last long and Gary Payton’s ghost was there for like, 30 seconds in NBA years.