In recent years there’s been a lot of tanking to get a top pick even with the flattened lottery odds. But we can’t forget that you can get a generational talent later in the draft as well. In this blog we’re going to go over the biggest draft-day steals in the 2010s.

Nikola Jokic (2nd Round, 41st Pick)

Nikola Jokic went 41st overall. Second round. While most of the world was watching a Taco Bell commercial, the Nuggets found the best center of his generation.

Three MVPs. A championship, the first in Denver franchise history. Enough said.

However he’s not the only draft-day robbery of the decade.

Kawhi Leonard (1st Round, 15th Pick)

Kawhi Leonard went 15th in 2011. The Pacers were genius’ for drafting him when everybody else passed on him. Oh wait. No they’re not genius’ because they also didn’t believe in him since they traded him to the Spurs on draft night.

Only three players in NBA history have won Finals MVP with multiple different teams: LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Kawhi Leonard.

Kawhi brought Toronto its one and only championship in 2019, in his one season with the team, after the Raptors spent years trying and failing to get over the hump. The Raptors were mocked and made fun of by the rest of the NBA even getting awarded the nickname “Lebronto”. But that all went away in one magical Kawhi year.

Speaking of Kawhi in Toronto, dive deeper on the Raptors most recent trade for Kawhi here: KAWHI LEONARD IS A RAPTOR!? (Note this was made before it was announced that the trade was frozen for the time-being)

He’s also got a habit of ending dynasties. The Heat in 2011. The Warriors in 2019. Two different dynasties, and the two most recent dynasties in the NBA. Both ended with the same guy with a weird laugh.

Giannis Antentokounmpo (1st Round, 15th Pick)

Giannis Antetokounmpo went 15th too, 2013, but in one of the weakest drafts of all time.

Arguably the greatest player in Bucks history being the Bucks all-time leader in points, rebounds, assists, blocks, games played, minutes played, field goals made and free throws made. 

Only three players have ever won MVP and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season: Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Same pick as the Klaw. Two decade-defining players sitting at 15 while a dozen teams passed on both of them.

Isaiah Thomas (1st Round, 15th Pick)

Then there’s Isaiah Thomas, the very last pick of the 2011 draft. 60th overall. Five-foot-nine.

He took the Celtics to the Eastern Conference Finals in a year they were supposed to be a lottery team. Not because of a superteam around him. Because of him.

Of course Isaiah Thomas isn’t walking into a Hall of Fame conversation either. That’s fair. But no player that small has ever meant that much to a team picked that low.

Boston’s front office didn’t see it that way. They shipped him to Cleveland for Kyrie Irving, and his career never recovered. One of the biggest what-ifs in recent history is what if Boston handled IT’s injury properly

At the end of the day, the draft isn’t won in the lottery. It’s won in the rounds nobody’s paying attention to: the 15th picks everyone assumed were just fine, the 41st pick during a commercial break, the very last name called.

More From Hoops are Home

• 2018 Re-Draft: One of The Greatest Draft Classes This Century
• Draft-Day Robberies: The Four Picks in the 2010s That Changed the NBA
• Are The Sixers The Best Team In The East?
• Caleb Wilson is An Absolute Stud
• Wembanyama Just Helped The Spurs Build A Dynasty

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