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As always, professional sports leagues need a proper way to take in new prospective talent every season. For the NBA, a draft is generally issued annually near the end of June, where the first four picks are determined by a lottery system that favors teams with the worst regular-season records. Each of the 30 teams picks one player per round in the drawn order until 60 players are drafted, to which teams can then trade for players or future draft picks. Let’s break down each of the first-overall draft picks in the NBA over the last decade.
Kicking off the list of top draft picks in the last decade is the Dominican Republic-born Center recruited from the University of Kentucky, Karl-Anthony Towns, who was drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2015. In his most recent season, Towns has joined the New York Knicks, and over the course of his career has averaged 23 points per game and 11 rebounds per game.
Another international player from Australia, Ben Simmons was drafted first overall as a Forward/Guard from LSU to the Philadelphia 76ers. Simmons is now the Brooklyn Nets’ starting point guard and averaging 13.9 points per game in addition to 1.6 steals and 7.7 rebounds per game.
In 2017, the Philadelphia 76ers got to pick first yet again and went with Markelle Fultz from the University of Washington to play as a Guard. In 2019, he’d get traded to the Orlando Magic, where he received much more playing time than on the 76ers. Overall, Fultz has put up 11.1 points per game on average along with 1.2 steals per game while averaging a free-throw percentage of 73.1%.
Up next is Bahamas-born Center Deandre Ayton, who was drafted from the University of Arizona to the Phoenix Suns. After playing with the Suns for five full seasons, Ayton would join the Portland Trail Blazers in 2023. In total, Deandre has averaged 16.6 points per game and 10.5 rebounds per game in his career so far.
Zion Williamson was a first-round draft pick for the New Orleans Pelicans in 2019. He’d get drafted from the Universitty of Duke as a Forward and has played for five seasons so far, although his career to this point has been riddled with injuries. Overall, Williamson has averaged 24.6 points per game and approximately 1 steal per game when he has been healthy.
The Minnesota Timberwolves would use another first-overall pick to draft Anthony Edwards, a Guard from the University of Georgia. Edwards is averaging 23.1 points per game 5.2 rebounds per game and 1.4 steals per game in his career so far.
Cade Cunningham was drafted as a Guard for the Detroit Pistons out of Oklahoma State University in 2021. Over four seasons in the NBA so far, Cunningham has averaged 20.4 points per game, 1 steal per game and 5.3 rebounds per game.
Paolo Banchero was a top prospect Forward drafted from the University of Duke to the Orlando Magic in the 2022 NBA Draft. An integral part of the Magic’s offense, Banchero has averaged 21.6 points per game and 7 rebounds per game.
The first of the two French-born players, Victor Wembanyama was drafted first in the 2023 NBA Draft to the San Antonio Spurs as a Center/Forward from the Metropolitans 92 basketball club based in Paris. Since coming out of the LNB Pro A league to join the NBA in the United States, Wembanyama averaged 21.9 points per game, 3.5 blocks per game and 1.2 steals per game with a free throw percentage of 80.5% after just 2 seasons played.
The most recent NBA first overall pick in the NBA Draft, Zaccharie Risacher, was a French Forward drafted to the Atlanta Hawks from JL Bourg, who play in the LNB Elite league based out of Bourg-en-Bresse France. As another one of the top drafted French players, Risacher has averaged 11.7 points per game and 3.6 rebounds per game so far in his first season with the Hawks.
Liam has been a major sports fan and soccer player for over a decade, with a particular focus on major top-level soccer leagues, including the EPL, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and MLS. He has written numerous promotional articles for various top sportsbooks and continues to publish historical and factual sports articles covering the NFL, MLS, NHL, MLB, EPL and more.