The second pick in the NBA Draft is something that is highly coveted every year. But the last decade has shown that it is not always the lucky place.
The 2025 NBA Draft is just over a week. Cooper Flag and Dylan Harper are the unanimous first and second overall picks in this year’s draft. Flag’s arrival in Dallas is merely formal, but the same cannot be said for Harper.
The San Antonio Spurs scored their second overall pick in this year’s draft. But they are field calls to exchange picks.
The Philadelphia 76ers are one of the teams they are trying to trade up in the draft. As with Brooklyn Net, it’s unlikely that they’ll be offering the package they’re looking for to Spurs.
The Spurs are also linked to Kevin Durant’s trade potential. Therefore, it is very likely that they do not have a second pick on draft night. But if there is anything recent history, that could be a good thing.
Over the past decade, the overall pick of #2 has been used to select some great prospects. However, they failed to develop into reliable star players for almost any reason.
Dangelo Russell’s career began strongly. After a brief stint with the Los Angeles Lakers, Russell played the star role at Brooklyn Net, earning an All-Star nomination in 2019.
Since then, Russell has stormed the league, heading from team to team. What’s clear is that Russell is a regular season player, but a decent player.
It’s the playoff stage that disappoints Russell somewhat. His scores and number of filming have dropped significantly in the playoffs, and combined with his poor defense, he is truly inplayable.
Russell was expected to become a consistent All-Star level player. However, he settled into a rotation role in the league. Players like Kristaps Porzingis and Devin Booker, who were selected after him, have become stars in the NBA.
Brandon Ingram has no bad career in the NBA. Like D’Angelo Russell, he spent several years with the Lakers before finding success with another team.
Ingram was paired with Zion Williamson for the New Orleans Pelicans, earning an All-Star nomination.
The pair didn’t find success and didn’t even pass the first round of the NBA playoffs. On top of that, his history of injury and Ingram were quickly reduced to an NBA role player.
In raptors, Ingram has little time to regain the momentum he wasted. Players like Jalen Brown and Domantas Sabonis have established themselves as league All-Star mainstays.
Lonzoball, who completed the Lakers’ mistake triple with the #2 overall pick, was promoted to become Magic Johnson’s next great Lakers star.
However, he didn’t get off to a good start in LA. Despite playing with LeBron James during the season, the ball couldn’t be improved. Eventually he was traded for the Pelican as part of the Anthony Davis trade.
After two decent seasons with the Pelican, Lonzo signed with the Chicago Bulls. He seemed to have ultimately evolved into the player he was intended to be, but that was when a disaster occurred.
Serious injuries kept the ball on the sidelines throughout two or more NBA seasons. And when he returned last year, he showed the Bulls that he still can play at a high level, but he needs to be careful and handled.
Meanwhile, several other stars who chose him, such as Jason Tatum, Bam Adebayo, Donovan Mitchell and Lauri Markanen, have established All-Star and All-Nava caliber players.
Marvin Bagley III is one of two players on this list and is the worst two pick crown competitor of all time. After a great college stint where he won ACC Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year in the same season, he joined the NBA with great anticipation.
Sacramento Kings executive Peja Stojakovic lobbyed Bagley III before fellow Balkan standouts Luka Donsic, Trae Young and Shay Gilgauss Alexander.
He had a strong rookie season and earned all-newcomer honors, but Bagley’s career has declined sharply ever since.
Currently, Bagley III is barely working in the Memphis Grizzlies, playing around 8 minutes per game. His aforementioned classmates compete for the NBA Championship and other prestigious accolades.
Ja Morant is one of the few choices on this list that led to his potential as a player. Zion Williamson won a lot of hype in the 2019 NBA Draft, but Morant was the one who quickly rose to the ranks.
Morant established himself as something to watch after he won Rookie of the Year and the most improved player of consecutive years. In addition to its multiple All-Star nominations, fans may wonder why Morant is on this list.
His troubles from the court caused much damage to his career. Morant’s illegal social media activities landed him in hot water twice during the 2022-23 NBA season.
This year it’s been a bit revived. However, his celebratory antics towards the end of the season seem to suggest that Morant has not yet learned his lessons and is likely to get into trouble again.
James Wiseman is another player on this list, competing with Marvin Bagley III, the worst 2#2 pick stigma of all time.
Steve Kerr rejected Anthony Edwards’ landing in the 2020 NBA Draft, but the Golden State Warriors still had other options.
The Warriors chose Wiseman. Because he could be the star-level center they’ve always wanted. But in doing so, they chose one of the most disappointing NBA outlooks in recent memory.
Today, James Wiseman is out of the NBA and barely wants to come back. Draft class players like Tyrese Halliburton, Tyrese Maxie and Lamelo Ball prove that the Warriors have drafted the perfect successor to Stephen Curry.
Jalen Green hasn’t played poorly since entering the NBA. However, he wasn’t the star-level standout the Houston Rockets expected when they selected him in the 2021 NBA Draft.
Green’s biggest problem is his scoring efficiency and contradiction. However, after struggling for a few years, Green seemed to understand that this season, helping the Rockets earn their second overall seed in a 52-win season.
In the playoffs, Green looked terrible, dropping a really poor performance when the Rockets lost to the Warriors in the first round.
The future of Green with Rocket is uncertain as the team is about to land Kevin Durant. However, the Rockets look back at the 2021 NBA Draft and hope to draft Scotty Burns or Jalen Thugs instead.
Unlike many players on this list, Chet Holmgren appears to be breaking this curse of the second overall pick.
But when the Oklahoma City Thunder first drafted, things looked bleak. Prior to his debut season, Chet suffered a season-ending injury, delaying his NBA career by a year.
When he began playing with the Thunder, he was extremely influential, competing for the neck and neck with Victor Wenbanyama for Rookie of the Year, whilst the Thunder won the first species in the Western Conference.
Chet played very well this season despite his long absence due to injuries. And while his struggle in the NBA Finals is discouraged, Holmglen has the opportunity to make a big impact on Thunder to win the NBA Championship.
Brandon Miller had the unfortunate role of being the player selected after Victor Wenbagnama. And although it attracted a lot of attention from him, he has come out well for himself.
Miller’s career average of 18.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists are currently extremely strong, and he hasn’t fully developed at the pace the Hornets had hoped for.
Part of that was due to concerns about his injuries. Because Miller only played 27 games this past season. He still has a lot of time to prove himself.
As things stood, Miller went under the radar compared to players like Ausar Thompson and Amen Thompson.
Alexandre Sarr was hardly on this list. When the Atlanta Hawks surprisingly won the NBA Draft lottery, Sarr was the first front runner to reach the NBA Draft overall.
However, Saa informed Hawks officials that he didn’t want to play for the team, so if he chose him he would return to France.
Instead, the Hawks drafted Zaccharie Risacher and Sarr went to the Wizard of Washington. Sarr was never a rookie standout, but he played well enough to finish fourth in the Rookie of the Year race behind Stephon Castle, Risacher and Jaylen Wells.
The reason he’s on this list is his pre-draft activities. If SARR is willing to direct conditions to NBA teams before joining the league, that could be a sign that he is a problematic case in the coming years.
Do you rarely get two solid successes in your draft class? But the 2025 NBA Draft presents exactly that opportunity.
Dylan Harper could potentially join the NBA as his second overall pick, turning back a decade of bad luck in response to incredible play and his potential.
As things stand, Harper could end up with several different teams. But hopefully, wherever he goes, the NBA desperately needs exciting and young talent, so he becomes a star he can.
With the NBA Drafts apart for more than a week, the NBA Analytics Network has put together the first mock draft. In addition to that, we also predicted where all the second round picks would go. Stay tuned to our site for better NBA draft coverage over the next few days.
