9. Andrew Nicholson (2012)
- Pick: 19th
- Orlando seasons: 4 (2012-2016)
- Orlando averages: 247 games, 15.1 minutes, 6.5 points, 3.2 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 0.4 blocks, 0.2 steals, 0.3 3-pointers made
- Orlando slash line: .473/.336/.780
- Picked before: Evan Fournier (20)
That’s right; the Magic could’ve had Fournier as a rookie. Instead, they drafted Andrew Nicholson, the first player out of Saint Bonaventure to be drafted in the first round since Bob Lanier was the first overall pick in 1970.
Nicholson was coming off a senior season in which he’d been named Atlantic 10 Player of the Year and led the Bonnies to their first NCAA tournament appearance in 12 years. Nicholson’s stock was high, but he was still an underdog.
The 2012-13 Magic, Nicholson’s rookie season, had the worst record in the NBA. This worked to the rookie’s benefit as he appeared in 75 games and even logged a career-high 28 starts.
Things didn’t go so well after that.
Nicholson’s numbers dipped across the board in his second season. In his third, he struggled even more, and in his fourth, he found himself out of the rotation.
After four seasons in Orlando, Nicholson was a beneficiary of the infamous free agency summer of 2016 when he signed a four-year, $26 million deal with the Washington Wizards. Like many of the 2016 contracts, it was a disaster, and he was out of the league in a year.
Nicholson is now one of many former NBA players to go on to tear it up in China.