The 30 most painful NBA Draft pass-ups since 2000

NBA Draft Mistake #4: Washington drafting Kwame Brown over Pau Gasol.

The aforementioned 2001 Draft is largely remembered as the Kwame Brown Draft, despite featuring eight future all-stars. Brown, who was picked by Washington, certainly wasn’t among those eight standouts, even though he was the number-one pick. Brown was taken straight out of high school and was actually one of the few “preps to pros” players who failed to have a good career.

While he did play 12 years, he only ranked 17th in the 2001 NBA Draft class in win shares with 20.8. Compare that to Pau Gasol, who had 144.1 over his career. Even without the benefit of hindsight, Gasol had three seasons of professional experience and won the Euroleague Finals MVP at just 20 years old before he was drafted third.

The Wizards ignored that and almost immediately regretted it. Gasol won Rookie of the Year by averaging roughly 18 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 blocks per game. Compare that to Brown, who averaged just 14.3 minutes a game as a rookie and, even in his best season in his four years in Washington, averaged only 10.9 points and 7.4 rebounds. Big mistake by the Wizards.