NBA Draft: Worst pick every current general manager has made

Worst NBA draft pick Dallas Mavericks general manager Donnie Nelson has made: Dennis Smith Jr.

Donnie Nelson has been with the Dallas Mavericks for decades and yet, he has not actually made many draft selections. The Mavericks have long used draft picks as trade bait to augment a team that won 50 plus games for years on end. So the pool for picking the worst selection by the team was surprisingly shallow.

Dennis Smith Jr. takes the crown here. Drafted ninth in a draft that saw Donovan Mitchell and Bam Adebayo round out the last two picks in the lottery. So far his best season came in his rookie season with the Mavericks where he averaged 15.2 points, 5.2 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game but he never seemed to get on the same page with head coach Rick Carlisle.

Smith was shipped to the New York Knicks as part of the trade package that brought Kristaps Porzingis to Dallas. He would play for the Knicks for one entire season and two partial seasons where he would appear in 58 total games due to injuries and ineffective play. Just before he could assign himself to the G-League bubble he was traded to the Detroit Pistons in hopes of reigniting his career heading into free agency.