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?
Your list in the modern time (last 30 years) is accurate. Wiggins, Oden, were not hyped to the level of these players. Dwight was extremely hyped, but wouldn’t put him quite on this level…but his hype is underrated by people.
Oden is definitely warranted on that level, especially if Zion is going to be on that list. He was legitimately argued against KD.
What’s worse is that he DID warrant the hype. Pre-injury Oden, the very little we saw in the NBA, was a monster. Dude was easily going to be in the David Robinson/Patrick Ewing tier of centers. Not the level of Shaq/Hakeem/Kareem, but jesus did he look good.
AD should also be on this list.
I don’t think Oden or AD were truly at the once-in-a-lifetime level as a prospect. Definitely not Oden. AD was close though. Oden was viewed as a great prospect, elite, bringing the center position back, but not at that generational level.
I’m from Indiana so I’m sure that skews my perception him being from my homestate, but people were saying he was the best high school player since Kareem. Then he went to Ohio State and dominated. The dude couldn’t use his right hand to shoot for half the year and still dominated with his offhand. He was touted as a can’t miss generational big man and I’d argue moreso than AD because he accomplished way more in high school and college.
Maybe I’m missing the boat on Oden myself. Guess it depends on the circles you were/weren’t in and how clued in you were with the consensus. No question he was very hyped though. Deservedly.
Oden was most definitely viewed as generational talent. Hype bigger than anyone since LeBron and most after.