Best NBA Draft Sleepers of All-Time

Having a lottery pick in the NBA Draft, especially in the first three picks, is often perceived as a ticket to bigger things in the future for a franchise. Picking the next Anthony Davis can take a team to the next level. As is the case with any draft pick, there’s no certainty in the lottery, but there’s undoubtedly a better shot of grabbing a game-changing player in the lottery than later in the draft.

However, an organizations ability to identify sleepers later in the draft is something that can be equally—if not more—valuable in the long run than having a lottery pick. Being able to find quality players outside of the lottery and even in the second round is something many teams fail to capture the importance of or are simply inept at doing.

There are numerous examples throughout the history of the league of players being taken later in the draft turning into valuable assets on their teams and around the league. Contemporary examples like Isaiah Thomas and Chandler Parsons certainly fit the bill as they were both taken in the second round, Thomas even falling all the way to the last pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.

Despite the success that both Thomas and Parsons have already had in the league, though, they aren’t among the best sleepers ever taken in the draft. If we define sleepers as players who—for one reason or another—were taken outside the top-14 picks in the draft, there is a rich history of sleepers going on to become historically great in this league.

These are the 10 best sleepers in the history of the draft:

Next: Which Bruising Big Man Starts The List?