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The NBA Draft is always an exciting time. Almost always, a few tantalizing prospects hand in their names every year for entry towards the NBA. For the 2023 NBA Draft class, it's Victor Wembanyama's time to shine as its undisputed best player — a 7'4, do-it-all big man with the potential to transform the San Antonio Spurs as early as his rookie season.
Throughout the past decade, however, there have been plenty of game-changing talents who have entered the league. With the 2023 NBA Draft only days away, it'll be interesting to look back on the past 10 draft classes, and how each stack up against each other.
While this is just an informal ranking of each draft class from 2013-2022 from worst to best, it's still important to know which standards are to be used. An evaluation of how elite the draft classes top-shelf talent is, in combination with the draft classes' depth (how many quality players did the draft class produce?) will be used to rank them.
Without further ado, here are the draft classes of the past decade, ranked.
10. 2022
It's too early for the 2022 NBA Draft class to challenge the other draft classes in terms of quality — both in terms of top-end talent and depth. After all, young players tend to play worse in their rookie years than when they've already had time to settle and transition into the next level of competitive basketball.
This is not to say that this class is bad — not by any means. Paolo Banchero, Jalen Williams, and Walker Kessler are the three best players of this class by a mile, while the likes of Keegan Murray, Jaden Ivey, Bennedict Mathurin, and Jabari Smith Jr. have all showed that they have a long, fruitful career ahead of them. Christian Braun, Jeremy Sochan, and Jalen Duren cannot be overlooked as well.
But at the moment, more work is required out of them — as well as a breakout or two (perhaps Chet Holmgren even becomes the star of this draft class) — for them to be considered anything but the worst draft class of the past decade.
9. 2021
It was a bit difficult to rank both the 2020 and 2021 draft classes, for the simple reason that it may be too early to make snap judgments regarding certain players. Nevertheless, with this being not too serious of an exercise, 2021 will hold the number nine spot simply because of their inexperience.
A cursory glance at the 2021 draft class shows plenty of contributors being selected all throughout the draft. Aside from the glaring exception that is Joshua Primo, most players taken in the first round either belong in an NBA rotation, or have belonged in one for a considerable period of time.
The question mark for the draft class at the moment, however, is its top-shelf talent. Evan Mobley is a destructive, two-way force, but apart from him, there are plenty of question marks surrounding others' superstar potential.
Will Cade Cunningham bounce back stronger from his shin injury? Will Jalen Green figure out his inefficiencies? And will Scottie Barnes and Josh Giddey ever emerge into All-NBA caliber talents, given their skillset that makes them more suited to high-level complementary roles?
8. 2020
Unlike the 2021 draft class, 2020 has, to this point, produced three players who are their respective teams' undisputed franchise cornerstones (Anthony Edwards, LaMelo Ball, and Tyrese Haliburton). That alone pushes this draft class above 2021.
The depth of 2020 is nothing to scoff at either, with the likes of Tyrese Maxey, Desmond Bane, Onyeka Okongwu, Devin Vassell, and Jaden McDaniels all being solid contributors (or in the case of others, even fringe All-Star talents) for their teams. Cole Anthony, Isaiah Stewart, and Josh Green also project to be high-level role players as they continue to develop.
The top of this draft class isn't too pretty, with James Wiseman, Isaac Okoro, Killian Hayes, Jalen Smith, and Kira Lewis Jr. not exactly developing as well as the teams that drafted them had hoped. But 2020 is an underrated draft class, with plenty of room to grow to spare.
7. 2013
2013 was supposed to be the NBA's weakest draft class since 2000, and quite frankly, it did show in the results at the top of the draft. The Anthony Bennett selection remains the stuff of draft bust legend. And just to put in perspective how top-light (or whatever the opposite of top-heavy is) this draft class is, the 14 players selected in the lottery have combined for exactly zero All-Star appearances.
Nevertheless, Giannis Antetokounmpo props up this draft class in a huge way. Antetokounmpo emerged from the Greek unknowns to become one of the best players in NBA history, and that alone prevents this draft class from automatically being one of the worst.
If not for Antetokounmpo (and to a lesser extent, Rudy Gobert and CJ McCollum), this draft class would have an argument for being one of the three-worst in this past decade, as this class possesses a rare mix of early flameouts, major busts, and lack of star power.
6. 2015
The 2015 NBA Draft is tough to look at these days, with only seven of the 14 selected in the lottery belonging in an NBA rotation to this day. Players such as Mario Hezonja, Jahlil Okafor, and Stanley Johnson all failed to live up to the hype. And it's not like this draft class is that deep either, with plenty more misses than hits across the board.
However, the top-shelf talent of this draft class is what saves it. The presence of Devin Booker alone props up this draft class considerably, as Booker is one of the 15-best players in the NBA today. Moreover, Karl-Anthony Towns, Kristaps Porzingis, Myles Turner, and D'Angelo Russell are nothing to scoff at.
Meanwhile, there are a few high-level contributors littered across this draft class, with the likes of Terry Rozier, Tyus Jones, Kevon Looney, Norman Powell, and Bobby Portis all remaining comfortably above-average players. But make no mistake about it, this draft class was supposed to turn out better than it has, if the perception going into the 2015 NBA Draft is anything to go by.
5. 2019
Will this be another draft class that fails to age well?
It began on the right foot for the best players of the 2019 class, with Zion Williamson and Ja Morant looking like they were destined for greatness as long as their bodies allowed it. However, those two have found themselves embroiled in controversy, with Morant even facing suspension due to his off-court actions. Meanwhile, Williamson has missed 194 out of a possible 308 games in his career.
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Nevertheless, besides those two, 2019 has produced a few All-Star/fringe All-Star talents (Darius Garland, Tyler Herro, Nic Claxton), safely above-average starters (Cameron Johnson, Keldon Johnson, RJ Barrett, PJ Washington, Jordan Poole), and solid role players (Kevin Porter Jr., De'Andre Hunter, Brandon Clarke, Grant Williams, Matisse Thybulle), so if anything, this draft class is heavily underrated.
4. 2016
Heading into the 2016 NBA Draft, analysts thought that the draft class was weak. Outside of Ben Simmons, a lot of the prospects projected to go in the lottery had plenty of question marks. But seven years later, the 2016 class has turned out to be one of the most underrated of the past decade, having produced plenty of All-Star talents across the board.
Simmons may be a meme nowadays, but he was legitimately good for three to four years, while Ingram and Brown are two of the best wing players in today's NBA. Meanwhile, Jamal Murray and Pascal Siakam are NBA champions, Domantas Sabonis has blossomed into an All-NBA-level player, while Dejounte Murray has emerged as an All-Star talent.
Moreover, Malcolm Brogdon, Buddy Hield, Jakob Poeltl, and Ivica Zubac are all starting-caliber players logging heavy minutes for their respective teams.
However, this class also produced some memorable busts (Dragan Bender, Marquese Chriss, Thon Maker, Georgios Papagiannis), which prevents them from scaling this ranking even higher.
3. 2017
The 2017 draft class is one of the deepest in recent memory, even if it did produce its fair share of disappointments. (Josh Jackson comes to mind immediately.) Among the 14 players drafted in the lottery, 13 of them at least have a role in an NBA rotation, with five of them (Jayson Tatum, De'Aaron Fox, Lauri Markkanen, Donovan Mitchell, and Bam Adebayo) playing starring roles for their respective teams.
We haven't even gotten to the quality non-lottery picks of this draft class. In the rest of the first round alone, six have become fringe All-Stars or quality starters (OG Anunoby, Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart, Derrick White, Jarrett Allen, and John Collins), with six second-round picks being solid role players (Dillon Brooks, Isaiah Hartenstein, Monte Morris, Thomas Bryant, Edmond Sumner and Vlatko Cancar).
2. 2014
Producing one MVP is difficult enough as it is for a draft class. Producing two is simply unfathomable. But that's exactly what happened for the 2014 NBA Draft class, which houses two of the most recent MVPs of the league in Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic.
Beyond Embiid and Jokic, however, this draft class has produced plenty of players who have played huge roles in contending teams, such as Andrew Wiggins and Aaron Gordon. Meanwhile, the draft class also churned out All-Stars such as Zach LaVine and Julius Randle and quality starters such as Marcus Smart, Clint Capela, Spencer Dinwiddie, Jerami Grant, and Jordan Clarkson — making this class' depth some of the most impressive over the past decade.
But when it comes to draft classes that boast both immense star power and depth, there is only one that stands on the mountaintop from 2013 to 2022.
1. 2018
Looking back at the 2018 NBA Draft class is a sheer delight. The combination of elite talent and quality depth across the board makes this class one of the best in NBA history.
In the first round of the 2018 NBA Draft alone, four have made an All-Star team (Luka Doncic, Jaren Jackson Jr., Trae Young, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander). Meanwhile, 18 more first-rounders remain members of an NBA rotation, with six of those 18 being high-quality starters who are coveted around the league (Mikal Bridges, Michael Porter Jr., Deandre Ayton, Wendell Carter Jr., Anfernee Simons, and Robert Williams III).
That list of names did not even include Jalen Brunson yet, as Brunson was drafted in the second round (33rd overall) during that year. Seriously, the second round of the 2018 NBA Draft is incredible for how many quality players it has produced.
Apart from Brunson, Mitchell Robinson, Bruce Brown, De'Anthony Melton, and Gary Trent Jr. have all developed into solid role players for their respective teams, not to mention the on-and-off contributions of Devonte' Graham, Shake Milton and Hamidou Diallo.
Simply put, the top-to-bottom quality of this draft class will be hard to top anytime soon.
