NBA Draft: Re-drafting the 2014 NBA Draft’s first round

2014 NBA Redraft: 23. Jabari Parker, Utah Jazz

There have been many unexpected circumstances that have played a part in Jabari Parker’s underwhelming career. Like Wiggins, he is not an outright bust — with a career average of 15.1 points per game — but it’s clear the high expectations placed on him coming out of college seem too far out of reach at this time.

Drafted second overall, he fit the mold of those before him like Carmelo Anthony and Paul Pierce, elite scoring options who operated best around the elbow. Those were the types of players organizations wanted on their roster at the time, ones you could simply give the ball to at any moment in time and expect instant offense.

Jabari averaged 20.1 points per game on 49.0 shooting from the field during the 2016-17 season, his best as a pro and one we had hoped he could build off of moving forward. Two separate ACL tears and a seismic shift in playstyle around the league make those numbers feel like ages ago.

Who could’ve predicted the rise of value placed on the 3-point shot and subsequent exile of the art of the mid-range? Who within the Milwaukee Bucks organization believed a lanky kid from Greece named Giannis Antetokounmpo would become the franchise superstar so many expected Parker to be?

He didn’t help himself by remaining stubborn in his inefficient ways, a struggling outside shooter and a subpar defender. It’s still hard not to show sympathy, though, for a player whose lack of success doesn’t totally fall on his shoulders alone. Had the league not evolved and the Greek Freak remained an unknown, who knows where Parker’s career would’ve taken him?

After moving on from the Bucks in 2019 with stops in Chicago, Washington and Atlanta before being waived by Sacramento in March, that’s a question that continues to ring louder.