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The Detroit Pistons will be hosting the league-best Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday in what should be a very interesting Eastern Conference matchup.
The Pistons are currently 8-13, but have some momentum going on their side following back-to-back wins against the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday and the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday. They will, however, need to be at their very best if they hope to try to put an end to Milwaukee's current 12-game winning streak.
One man who has been at the very thick of this tremendous run is none other than Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo. The 24-year-old is currently putting up some mind-boggling numbers: 30.8 points (on 56.5 percent shooting), 13.4 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 1.4 steals, and 1.3 blocks.
Interestingly, back in the 2013 NBA Draft, the Pistons actually passed on Giannis, and instead opted to go with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope with the eighth overall pick. To be fair to the Pistons, there were a bunch of other teams that also made the unimaginable mistake of overlooking the then-19-year-old Greek stud, as he fell all the way to the 15th spot to the Bucks. Nevertheless, it's hard not to imagine what could have been if Detroit gambled on a raw talent who, in hindsight, should have unquestionably gone first overall in that particular draft class.
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The Pistons have been notoriously unlucky with their draft selections over the past decade or so, with Andre Drummond the only noteworthy selection they've made thus far. To make matters worse, they also drafted the likes of Khris Middleton (2012) and Spencer Dinwiddie (2014), but we all know how these guys eventually flourished with other teams not named the Detroit Pistons.
Had Lady Luck been smiling on the Pistons that fateful evening in 2013, though, there is no doubt that the landscape of the NBA would be much different from how it is today. It would not at all be unlikely that Giannis takes on the exact same path he has had thus far, except that he would have done it in a Pistons uniform.
Detroit probably would not have traded for Blake Griffin in 2017, but in truth, they would not have had to with Antetokounmpo already flourishing into a bona fide superstar at that point.
It's certainly a hard pill to swallow for the Pistons, having passed on the opportunity to draft a franchise-altering superstar in Giannis Antetokounmpo. Perhaps the only consolation here is that in that very same evening, the Cleveland Cavaliers had the first overall pick. Their selection? Anthony Bennett.
Of course, when it comes to the Bucks, they owe a debt of gratitude to the Bucks and all those other teams for passing on The Greek Freak. If he wasn't available and Milwaukee picked somebody else, they almost certainly wouldn't be the juggernaut they are today given the lack of star power in the 2013 draft class.
