We continue our eDraft exclusive look at the top NBA draft choices over the past 40 years. Our continued look back through history will determine who was the best draft selection through each slot in the draft. We don’t stop with the first overalls, we will go pick by pick, year by year to to identify the very best selections of all-time.
Before we get onto our greatest 13th overall draft pick, let’s take a quick look back at the greatest 14th overall draft pick. The honour of greatest 14th overall pick went to Clyde Drexler who put together a 16-year career that saw Drexler be a ten time All-Star, an NBA Champion and an Olympic Gold Medalist. Drexler had his #22 jersey retired by both the Houston Rockets and Portland Trailblazers and upon retirement and he was named to the NBA’s 50th Anniversary All-Time Team. To top it all off, Drexler then got his call to the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2004.
With Drexler as our greatest 14th overall pick; that made three consecutive picks who will be represented in the Hall of Fame. We have yet to put together a run of four Hall of Famers in a row, so let’s see who we can find in our 13th draft slot. In conducting our analysis for this draft slot, the quantity of quality players was fairly low; however even with the few players we had to choose from there was some greatness to be found.
For many teams the 13th overall draft slot proved to be quite unlucky as numerous picks failed to pan out and some never even played in the league. The past decade actually has very little to contribute as Tyler Hansbrough is one of the few success stories. Going back a bit further we did find Richard Jefferson and Corey Maggette who were taken in the 2001 and 1999 drafts respectively but other than that it was slim pickings.
A few other notable players were also found as Fab-Five member Jalen Rose, Dale Davis and Mitch Kupchak were all drafted 13th overall by their respective teams. Two players rose above their peers and clearly separated themselves as each achieved levels of greatness in their careers. For the first time in our countdown we found two players who are perhaps equally deserving of the title as one is already enshrined in the Hall of Fame and the other will undoubtedly get his due upon retirement.
The runner-up for the greatest 13th overall pick is the current Hall of Famer and Utah Jazz legend Karl Malone. The Jazz selected Malone with the 13th pick in the 1985 draft out of Louisiana Tech University. Malone went on to have a stellar career that included 14 All-Star appearances, two MVP awards and two Olympic Gold Medals.
Malone retired as the second-highest scorer in NBA history and he had his jersey retired by the Utah Jazz to go along with a statue of himself outside the arena. There is little doubt that Malone was one of the greatest power forwards to ever play in the NBA, so who could have possible knocked off ‘The Mailman’ for top spot here?
Well it just so happens that back in 1996 the Charlotte Hornets drafted a skinny high school kid out of Lower Merion High with their 13th overall pick. The Hornets then swung a draft day deal with the Los Angeles Lakers that saw Vlade Divac go to Charlotte and the newly drafted Kobe Bryant head West to Lakerland.
This was a turning point in the history of the Lakers as they have won five NBA Championships with Bryant on board. Bryant has himself won one MVP Award, has two finals MVP Awards, 15 All-Star nominations, four All-Star MVP Awards, two league scoring titles, nine NBA All-Defensive First Team appearances and two Olympic Gold Medals. Bryant is also the Lakers all-time franchise leader for points scored and will ultimately have his own jersey retirement ceremony complete with statue unveiling.
It was obviously going to take a special kind of player to knock Malone off and Bryant is just such a player. The difference maker here is the championship rings that Bryant has as well as his on-court leadership and determination that truly elevates Bryant into the stratosphere of NBA legends. Kobe Bryant is eDraft’s greatest 13th overall draft pick of all-time.