7 recent NBA lottery picks who are already out of the league

Premier talent enters the professional ranks every year through the NBA Draft, but not every high pick proves to be worth the selection.

That even applies to top prospects who went in the NBA Draft lottery.

Here are seven lottery picks from the past seven years who are already out of the NBA.

7. Jarrett Culver, Minnesota Timberwolves (No. 6, 2019 NBA Draft)

The 2019 NBA Draft was an interesting class, as it featured a generational talent in Zion Williamson, along with two consolation prizes in Ja Morant and R.J. Barrett. Beyond that, the class seemed rather middling, and there was much debate about who the first selections following those top three would be.

Having just led the Texas Tech Red Raiders to the NCAA Championship, Culver was one of the favorites to go fourth overall to the Los Angeles Lakers (who would go on to include their pick in the Anthony Davis trade).

Culver had averaged 18.5 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game, and was a quality backcourt defender at 6-foot-5, 195 pounds. The concern with Culver was that his shooting ability would limit him in the NBA, because while he had shot 46.1% from the floor, his 3-point clip was only 30.4% in 2018-2019, and to make matters worse, he shot just 70.7% from the free-throw line.

A player's free-throw percentage is typically a pretty good indicator of how effective a shooter he is; if a collegiate player has a low 3-point percentage but is hitting free throws at a good rate, that's a signal that his jump shot mechanics could be refined and he could become a quality outside shooter.

Unfortunately, those concerns have become a reality for Culver, and after being taken sixth overall by the Phoenix Suns (then immediately traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves), he started 35 of 63 games as a rookie, shooting just 29.9% from beyond the arc and an abysmal 46.2% from the free-throw line.

Things have only worsened for Culver since his rookie year, as his minutes dropped nearly 10 minutes per game in 2020-2021, and then he was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies, where he played only 9.1 minutes in 37 games. He signed a two-way contract with the Atlanta Hawks and appeared in just 10 games. He is currently a member of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, which is the G League affiliate of the Houston Rockets