Most Shocking NBA Lottery shakeups of all-time

8. Darko (2003)

Most people would agree that the 2003 NBA Draft is one of the best draft classes in the history of the league. The argument could be made that four out of the top-five picks in the draft are going to the Hall of Fame, two of them without question. However, the odd man out of all of that was the No. 2 pick by the Detroit Pistons in Darko Milicic.

According to all of the urban legends, word of mouth, and everything for the sort, Darko absolutely wowed everyone with his pre-draft workouts and with the skill that he showed. However, he was still a bit of an unknown quantity entering the draft, the same of which can’t really be said of players like Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, and Carmelo Anthony that were taken after him. Even at the time, it was a bit stunning to see Darko go off the board ahead of those guys.

To be clear, how big of a bust Darko wound up being makes this selection and moment even more shocking than before. However, that sometimes clouds how shocking the moment was at the time to begin with. In such a loaded draft, it truly shook up the league in a major way to where the effects are still being felt today.

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