NBA Draft: 30 greatest draft picks in league history
11. player. 156. . Small Forward. St. Vincent-St. Mary (OH), 2003 (No. 1). LeBron James
Greatest NBA Draft picks in league history: LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers
By the time LeBron James became the greatest player to make the leap from high school directly into the NBA, territorial picks in the NBA Draft had been done away with. Yet it may as well have been the case, as the Akron native was taken No. 1 overall in the 2003 NBA Draft by his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers.
In seven years with the Cavaliers, he established himself as one of the best players in the league, and by the end of his tenure as the very best. In his first season, he won NBA Rookie of the Year, despite being younger than the players such as Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony he came in with.
For the next six years, he was both an NBA All Star and an All-NBA selection. In 2009 and 2010, he was named the league MVP.
During that stretch, James made it just once to the NBA Finals, lacking the support of a roster that could propel him over the top. On that stretch of basketball alone James would have made this list, but perhaps a few spots lower.
Somehow given he returned to Cleveland after four seasons away, bringing in another four years of All-NBA First-Team play and the franchise’s first title, has to be factored in.
Would James have felt the pressure to bring home a title for his hometown team if he had not already forged such a connection with the fans? If Carmelo Anthony was taken by the Cavaliers and James had gone to the Detroit Pistons, would he have made his way back to Cleveland to win a title?
Some value was gained by taking James in the first place to bring him back, and that gives his résumé a slight bump up this list.