NBA: Ranking every team based off draft success over the last 20 years
1. Oklahoma City Thunder: 125.5 points
- 2003: Luke Ridnour: 0.5
- 2007: Jeff Green: 0.5
- 2007: Kevin Durant: 48 (10x all-star, 1x MVP, 6x first team, 3x 2nd team)
- 2008: Serge Ibaka: 0.5
- 2008: Russell Westbrook: 39 (9x all-star, 1x MVP, 2x 1st team, 5x 2nd team, 1x 3rd team)
- 2009: James Harden: 35 (8x all-star, 1x MVP, 5x 1st team, 1x 3rd team)
- 2011: Reggie Jackson: 0.5
- 2013: Steven Adams: 0.5
- 2016: Domantas Sabonis: 1 (1x all-star)
Was there ever any doubt that the Oklahoma City Thunder would be in the top spot? Formula or no formula, the Thunder have drafted better than any team in the league over the last 20 years.
They’re often considered the “blueprint” for small market teams, but they are no more the blueprint for NBA teams than Steve Jobs is the blueprint for college dropouts – that kind of success just isn’t realistic! Most teams hope they can find one franchise-changing player to build around, the Thunder found three future MVP’s back to back to back.
Next. NBA: One x-factor for every team heading into the restart. dark
Forget just basketball, their three year stretch from 2007-09 has never been approached by any team in any sport and probably won’t happen again. And if by some miracle it does happen again, let’s hope that team keeps them together for more than three years before deciding it’s time to be fiscally responsible and trade one of them for tax reasons.