In basketball, legacies are built in June. Just days after the association crowns its champion, 60 amateur players realize their dream when they’re picked in the NBA Draft. Last year’s draft might go down as one of the all-time best. But the class of 2018 is shaping up to be quite strong, too, especially at the top.
For all the predictions and punditry that define draft day, there’s really no telling how the results will ultimately shake out. Sometimes, like when the Kings picked Isaiah Thomas in 2010, your team drafts an All-Star with the last pick. Sometimes (looking at you, Mr. Bennett), the No. 1 pick washes out of the league in two years.
That unpredictability is what makes the draft so exciting. It’s also what makes it an everlasting source of trivia. In preparation for the late-June frenzy, we’ve accrued a lottery-sized list (14, to be exact) of the most mind-blowing facts and figures in NBA Draft history.