The rookies I remember having immense hype, the kind where the draft is considered a sweepstakes for who will get them:

Shaquille O’Neal (1992) Tim Duncan (1997) LeBron James (2003) Zion Williamson (2019) Victor Wembanyama (2023)

Three out of four have had top 10-15 all time careers. I hope Zion gets it together to have at least a Hall of Fame career.

Who am I forgetting / who was there before 1992?

    • foye2smith@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Wiggins was weird. Wiggins was very hyped coming out of high school. Then at Kanas he was overtaken and the hype was reduced some. Then Embiid got hurt and suddenly his hype resurfaced because he was going #1 instead of #3

    • Low-iq-haikou@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Wiggins’ HS hype was extraordinary, but it died down a couple notches after he didn’t back it up at Kansas. There’s a reason Cleveland was ok trading the pick. Teams wouldn’t consider trading the pick for any of these names mentioned, even if the goal was to win now.

      Oden was very hyped, and absolutely warranted it, but I’d say it was more on AD’s level. Which is just a hair below these guys imo.