Analyzing the impact Number 1 picks have had in the NBA in recent years 

Time and again, teams across the league have tanked in an effort to rebuild their roster through NBA draft picks. But how effective and successful have teams been in the drafts in the last two decades?

Gone are the days when players spent their whole careers with a single team.

So, why do most teams tank to get into the NBA draft lottery? Why can’t they simply allure the marquee players to their teams in free agency by clearing the cap space? Well, it’s easier said than done.

Let’s only look at the teams that managed to get the top pick in the draft over the last two decades and how well those top picks fared during this time (2001-2020). Since it's unfair to expect a rookie to lead a team to a championship (unless his name is Earvin "Magic" Johnson), let's skip the 2021 draft. Cade Cunningham was picked by the Detroit Pistons as the No. 1 pick in 2021.

Teams with the No. 1 pick:

Washington Wizards – 2001, 2010

Houston Rockets – 2002

Cleveland Cavaliers – 2003, 2011, 2013, 2014

Orlando Magic – 2004

Milwaukee Bucks – 2005

Toronto Raptors – 2006

Chicago Bulls – 2008

Los Angeles Clippers – 2009

New Orleans Hornets (Pelicans) – 2012, 2019

Minnesota Timberwolves – 2015, 2020

Philadelphia 76ers – 2016, 2017

Phoenix Suns - 2018

In the last 20 years, only six No.1 picks have won championships. While one of those is LeBron James, three of the remaining five won rings with him: Kyrie Irving in 2016, Anthony Davis and Dwight Howard in 2020. (Howard led his team to the 2009 NBA Finals before falling to the mighty Lakers, led by Kobe Bryant, in a sweep.)

The other two, Andrew Wiggins (2022) and Andrew Bogut (2015), won titles with the Golden State Warriors. However, both were not even the second-best players on their team when they won.

Outside of James and Howard, no other No. 1 pick in the last 20 years has led his drafted team to the finals as being the best player on the team.

Irving could not even qualify for the playoffs until James and Kevin Love joined him in 2014. Davis could only take his team to the second round of the playoffs in the 2018 season.

Other notable first picks, such as Derrick Rose and Yao Ming, were struck with multiple injuries in their prime, John Wall did not have enough help, and Karl-Anthony Towns played in his first playoffs only last season.

The only player with a great setup around him was Blake Griffin. He had one of the best coaches in Doc Rivers, with some of the best players in their prime: Chris Paul, JJ Redick and DeAndre Jordan. He also had some good players coming off the bench: Jamal Crawford, Matt Barnes and Austin Rivers. Yet, Griffin and the LA Clippers never reached the conference finals.

Sometimes, the No. 1 picks never developed into the best players in their draft class.

Take the class of 2009, when Griffin was the top 1 pick. That's the same class of Stephen Curry (two-time MVP, four-time champion) and James Harden (MVP, three-time scoring champion). Blake won Rookie of the Year, but his prime years did not last long.

Perhaps surprisingly, since the 1976 ABA-NBA merger, only five No. 1 picks have led their drafted teams to championships and won a Finals MVP. That includes Johnson and James Worthy for the LA Lakers, Hakeem Olajuwon for the Houston Rockets and Tim Duncan for the San Antonio Spurs. James (2016) also did so for the Cleveland Cavaliers, although that was his second stint with the franchise.

All of these players are generational talents, and they only come around so often.

Drafting the right player, considering the team’s needs and the best player available, is an art. The job does not end there. It is equally important to have the right players around to ensure the team is in a position to contend. Otherwise, it would be a never-ending cycle of rebuilding and hoping for a generational talent to change the fate of the franchise.

While tanking could better a team's chances of landing the No. 1 pick or a top player in the draft, it's not an effective way to win championships in the long run.