The Milwaukee Bucks have had their fair share of mistakes in the NBA Draft through the years. At the same time, they’ve also made a couple of decisions that significantly improved the future of their franchise for the foreseeable future. One of them was when Giannis Antetokounmpo fell on their lap during the 2013 NBA Draft.
14 Teams Amazingly Passed on Giannis Antetokounmpo in 2013
Nick Mac of Fadeaway World came up with a list of the worst NBA Draft mistakes over the past two decades, and Giannis Antetokounmpo was part of the said ranking. Obviously, the Bucks did not commit a grave error in drafting the Greek Freak; it’s the other 14 teams who passed on him that will forever regret their decision to do so.
“Out of the 14 players drafted ahead of Giannis in the 2013 NBA Draft, none of them have ever been named an NBA All-Star except for second-overall pick Victor Oladipo. None of them have been an MVP or Finals MVP like Antetokounmpo has though which puts this over the top as a big whiff by half of the teams in the NBA,” Mac wrote.
In case you were wondering, it was Anthony Bennett who went first overall that year to the Cleveland Cavaliers that year. A few other noteworthy picks that were selected before Giannis include Cody Zeller (No. 4, Indiana Pacers), Alex Len (No. 5, Phoenix Suns), Nerlens Noel (No. 6, New Orleans Hornets), Trey Burke (No. 9, Minnesota Timberwolves), and Shabazz Muhammad (No. 14, Utah Jazz). Needless to say, those teams would like to get their pick back now that they have the benefit of hindsight.
Milwaukee Bucks’ Jabari Parker Decision Also Considered a Massive Mistake
While the Bucks received massive praise for their foresight on Giannis, Milwaukee was also called out for their decision to select Jabari Parker as the second overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft. The 6-foot-8 power forward was coming off a tremendous year at Duke, which led the Bucks to believe that he could be their cornerstone star of the future. They were wrong.
To add insult to injury, the Bucks passed on the opportunity to form what could have been the greatest frontcourt pairing of all time when they decided to pick Parker over the Philadelphia 76ers’ No. 3 overall selection, Joel Embiid.
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