A decade of drafts: Every NBA team's best draft picks and biggest flop over the past 10 years
By Matt Sidney
Breaking down every team's best and worst NBA Draft pick of the last 10 years.
For context, we are only going to be assigning the draft picks to their team if they've spent time with that respective team. An example of this would be Luka Doncic being drafted by the Atlanta Hawks, but on draft night he was traded to Dallas. Doncic will not count as the Hawks' draft pick, he will count toward Dallas'.
For the second-round picks, we are going to take the players who have had the most success overall, albeit most might have minimal impacts overall. With that, let's examine every team's best and worst draft choices over the past decade.
Atlanta Hawks
Best first-round selection: 2018 - 5th pick, Trae Young, PG
Trae Young has been a firecracker since he entered the league. His offensive pedigree separates him from just about anybody in the NBA. He is the clear choice for best first-round selection. He holds career averages of 25.5 points and 9.5 assists per game.
Best second-round selection: 2020 - 50th pick, Skylar Mays, SG/PG
Skylar Mays is not a household name, however, he has played a game in the NBA in all five seasons he's been eligible. He's a respectable three-point shooter and converts at the charity stripe. Not bad for a 50th-overall pick.
Biggest draft-flop: 2019 - 8th pick, Jaxson Hayes, C/PF
Jaxson Hayes never played a minute for the Hawks, but that's not the exercise. The Hawks selected the former center out of Texas and he has underwhelmed on NBA courts since. He is coming off of back-to-back seasons where he plays the least amount of minutes per game. He doesn't see the court and for a top-10 pick he leaves a lot to be desired.