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?
Going way back, Lew Alcindor, they were writing stories about Kareem when he was in high school. Bird and Magic were hyped up when they were drafted. Hakeem might have been the next one after that. I remember there being a lot of hype about Jason Kidd, but he was drafted second, behind Glenn Robinson.