NBA Draft: Ranking every draft class from 1996-2020

Ranking NBA Draft classes from 1995-2020: 17. 1997

One of the best players of all time was drafted in 1997 and yet the rest of the class was not quite strong enough to pull the class up into the upper half of the rankings. Tim Duncan was a no-brainer selection coming out of college and was just inducted into the Hall of Fame this year with a staggering resume: five-time champion, three-time Finals MVP, two-time MVP, All-Star MVP, 15-time All-NBA, 15-time All-Star, 15-time All-Defense and Rookie of the Year.

Two other players in the class also made an All-Star appearance. Tracy McGrady, a fellow Hall of Famer, never made it out of the first round of the playoffs but he was one of the faces of the league for a generation. He led the league in consecutive seasons, averaging 32.1 and 28.0 points respectively. Chauncey Billups took a little longer to click but once he did was a true champion. Billups played for four teams before making it to the Detroit Pistons where he was a three-time All-Star (plus two more in his next stop with the Denver Nuggets) and a Finals MVP.

Then comes a significant drop-off. Keith Van Horn and Tim Thomas had solid careers. Jacque Vaughn was widely respected and would go on to be a head coach. Stephen Jackson wanted all the smoke and is a champion role-player.