The upcoming 2024 NBA Draft has been labeled potentially one of the worst in history due to the lack of franchise-altering talent. Compared to the 2013 draft, which had notable bust Anthony Bennett, this year’s class lacks familiar college stars and features many players from international backgrounds. However, despite its lack of star power, the 2024 draft is considered deeper in terms of potential role players. Prospective #1 picks Zaccharie Risacher and Alexandre Sarr might not be superstars but could still have productive NBA careers.

The 13 Worst NBA Draft Classes (By # of All-Stars)

Some NBA draft classes are so talent-rich that redrafting them is like opening a treasure chest. Of course the 1984, 1996, and 2003 drafts come to mind as some of the best NBA Draft classes in the last 50 years. Some draft classes and NBA lotteries are quite dismal where the better players went deep in the second round or were undrafted. Today, we take you on a journey through some of the most disappointing NBA draft classes of the past two decades, using data to determine the worst.

In order to come up with this list, we factored the number of superstars in the draft (if any), how many players in that draft class made an All-Star appearance (or twelve), the number of overall appearances in the All-Star Game that draft had, and if the draft produced NBA Hall of Famers. The more the better for each one of these, but we used the primary metric to judge the successfulness of the draft by the number of All-Star appearances.

13. 2001 NBA Draft (28 All-Star Appearances)

There’s a couple reasons why the 2001 NBA Draft is one of the worst classes in the history of the league. While it had a lot of all-stars appearances, no one has ever called Pau Gasol, Tony Parker or Joe Johnson a superstar. The second reason why this draft is mentioned on this list is because of Kwame Brown. Brown was a somewhat surprise as the high schooler as the #1 overall pick and is often mentioned as one of the worst #1 overall picks all-time.

12. 1997 NBA Draft (27)

The 1997 NBA Draft, positioned between two historically great classes, is often overlooked despite producing three future Hall of Famers, Tim Duncan, Tracy McGrady, and Chauncey Billups. The relative weakness of this draft is supported by Duncan’s shoulders. The Big Fundamental carries this draft with 15 of the 27 total NBA All-Star appearances. Duncan was a 5× NBA champion (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2014) a 3× NBA Finals MVP (1999, 2003, 2005), and a two-time NBA Most Valuable Player (2002, 2003).

Otherwise, the variety of NBA All-Stars from this 1997 draft ends with McGrady and Billups. Three NBA All Stars amongst dozens of players — the fewest number of all-stars except for one other draft (spoiler: it’s the #1 worst draft). Both players required time to find their footing in the league. Other lottery picks like Keith Van Horn and Antonio Daniels had decent careers but didn’t excel. The later rounds had few standouts, with notable exceptions being Bobby Jackson, Tim Thomas, and Stephen Jackson.

11. 2006 NBA Draft (24)

The 2006 draft class makes the list because it lacks star power and really poor lottery results where Andrea Bargnani (1), Adam Morrison (3), Tyrus Thomas (4), Shelden Williams (5), Patrick O’Bryant (9), Mouhamed Sene (10), Hilton Armstrong (12), and Ronnie Brewer (14) all ended up with terrible NBA careers.

Brandon Roy is one of the biggest “what if player” showing promise but whose career was ultimately derailed by degenerative injuries. Roy could have been that player that lifted this draft class up

LaMarcus Aldridge made seven NBA All-Star appearances and has had a stellar career, but the rest of the top five, including Andrea Bargnani and Adam Morrison, were huge disappointments. . Rajon Rondo, Kyle Lowry, and Paul Millsap, all picked outside the top 20, salvaged the 2006 draft class with multiple all-star appearances for a total of 24 All-Star appearances.

10. 2002 NBA Draft (18)

Yao Ming was the beacon in the 2002 class, but injuries limited his career. Amar’e Stoudemire’s Rookie of the Year award and his  All-Star appearances kept this class from being a complete disaster. This class had just four NBA all-stars: two-time All-Stars Carlos Boozer and Caron Butler along with Yao and A’mare. Add four-time NBA All-Defensive Second Teamer, Olympian and NBA champion Tayshaun Prince helps to further prop this class up. The rest of the top five, including Jay Williams and Mike Dunleavy, failed to make significant impacts.

9. 2015 NBA Draft (10)

With “only” Devin Booker and Karl Anthony Towns in this draft, the 2015 draft could end up being a much worse (or better) draft depending on how KAT’s and Booker’s career end up. Which is to say, there’s still time for this draft to do better though it’s unlikely that D’Angelo Russell or Kristaps Porziņģis — the only two other all-stars in this draft — end up making another all-star game at this point of their careers. They might be able to add some weight to it if they continue helping their teams win. Also on the plus side, Myles Turner has always been on the threshold of being an all-star while Bobby Portis and Kevon Looney have been significant contributors to championship teams. But at the end of the day, it’s up to KAT or Booker to lift this draft up.

8. 2005 NBA Draft (19)

Even with one more All-Star appearance than the 2002 draft, this one featuring Chris Paul is worse overall.

Without CP3, the 2005 NBA Draft would be much higher on list of the worst NBA draft classes of all-time. Whatever you think of Paul, his dozen all-star selections and first ballot Hall of Fame lifted this class up. And there were a few years when there was a discussion on whether Deron Williams was the better point guard. Longevity answered that. The other All-Stars were mostly forgettable selections: David Lee, Andrew Bynum and Danny Granger. The 2005 selections did have some memorable players in Andrew Bogut, Lou Williams, Marcin Gortat, Monta Ellis and Nate Robinson. However, none of which came from this University of North Carolina-rich draft that included (in order of NBA success) Raymond Felton, Marvin Williams, Rashad McCants, and Sean May.

7. 2010 NBA Draft (18)

6. 2004 NBA Draft (13)

One of the many reasons critics will say why the 2004 NBA Draft was one of the worst NBA classes was because it had the most high schoolers selected in the NBA Draft, with seven of them drafted in the two rounds. In the history of the league according to FanDuel NCAAB, for every LeBron (2003) or Dwight Howard (2004) there’s a player like Ndudi Ebi (2003), Robert Swift (2004) and Kwame Brown (2002).

The amount of high schoolers selected in this draft that didn’t pan out was a warning shot to the NBA that teenagers should stay go to college to do homework, hang out at the dorm, write my paper, play video games, and generally experience college campus life. While Howard,  J.R. Smith, Shaun Livingston, Al Jefferson and Josh Smith all had long careers, it took a few of them some time to mature and find their place in the league.

The best player of the 2004 class was Howard by a large margin. Had Dwight’s career extended past his eight All-Star appearances, he would have helped lift this class up higher. Still the future Hall of Famer is the saving grace of the 2004 class. The rest of the top five picks, including Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon, only managed one All-Star appearance combined. If we were counting players who contributed and had long careers, the 2004 draft class would be higher with the likes of  super role players Andre Iguodala, Tony Allen, Luol Deng, Shaun Livingston, and Trevor Ariza providing some credit to this low All-Star draft class.

5. 1986 NBA Draft (14)

Even though 1986 had one more All-Star appearance than 2004, Dwight Howard’s shadow is much larger than the All-Stars put together from the 1986 class – with all due respect to Dennis Rodman.

The 1986 NBA Draft is remembered for its tragic losses, bans, and politics Most notably Len Bias died of a drug overdose shortly after being drafted, and Drazen Petrovic died in a car crash after a promising NBA start. Despite a great start to his career, Roy Tarpley was banned from the league for drugs. Arvydas Sabonis wouldn’t put an NBA jersey on for another decade thanks to the Cold War.

Bias, Tarpley, Sabonis, and Petrovic could have been NBA All-Stars. Tarpley and Petrovic were already trending there. The top pick, Brad Daugherty, had a brief but worthwhile career before injuries took him out. However, the draft’s first round was largely unremarkable, featuring a few notable players like Chuck Person and Dell Curry. Interestingly, the standout stars from this draft, Dennis Rodman and Mark Price from this draft were all second-round picks. Other good players from this draft included Nate McMillan, Scott Skiles and Arvydas Sabonis (whom wouldn’t come to the NBA for another decade).

4. 2013 NBA Draft was (13)

While this draft still has a lot of players in the league and Giannis Antetokounmpo and Rudy Gobert’s careers aren’t finished, the projections for this draft aren’t very good even with Giannis and Gobert adding some more all-star appearances. This draft is completely underwhelming with only Giannis, Gobert and Victor Oladipo with all-star appearances, the 2013 lottery being a complete bust, notable players that have contributed to deep playoff runs being KCP, Steven Adams, Robert Covington and Matthew Dellavedova, and maybe the worst #1 pick of all time in Anthony Bennett. Woof.

3. 1988 NBA Draft (15)

The third worst draft was the 1988 class. Not one superstar in the mix, this class is led by the underrated Mitch Richmond who was a solid player that made six all-star appearances. After that, it’s Dan Majerle who was no higher than the third best player when he played for the Phoenix Suns. The same goes for players such as Hersey Hawkins, John Starks, Anthony Mason and Danny Manning, good players who had some good years for good teams.

This draft, despite having 15 All-Star appearances, suffers from the lack of bigger All-Star names like Rodman and Mark Price. What saves this class are the notable non All-Star players such as Rod Strickland, Vernon Maxwell, Rex Chapman, and Steve Kerr — all contributing some memorable playoff performances.

2. Second-Worst was the 1990 NBA Draft (14)

The 1990 NBA Draft is notable for producing Hall of Famers Gary Payton and Toni Kukoc. Payton, selected second overall, became an all-time great and best player on this list. That said, Payton might not even be one of the top 10 best point guards in NBA history. Kukoc, drafted 29th, was inducted to the HOF but was more celebrated for his international success before joining the Chicago Bulls later. The draft’s top pick, Derrick Coleman, showed early promise but struggled with consistency. Other notable first-rounders included Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf and Dennis Scott, who had solid but not star-level careers.

Payton was the only multiple-time all-star selection but not enough to lift this draft class up. The rest of the all-stars in this draft saw just one-time All-Star game: Coleman along with Tyrone Hill, Jayson Williams, Antonio Davis, and Cedric Ceballos. That lack of consistent star power (14 total all-star appearances) coupled with middling talent and forgettable players from this class (Felton Spencer, Bo Kimble, Travis Mays and Alec Kessler) who never came close to realizing their draft position makes 1990 the second worst draft class in NBA history.

The 2000 NBA Draft was the Worst NBA Draft Class (3)

If we’re looking at internet opinions, the 2000 NBA Draft class is the undisputed worst in NBA history.

Worst NBA draft ever? pic.twitter.com/gLqE5VTfuf

— TodayInSports (@TodayInSportsCo) June 28, 2023

And the numbers don’t lie. Based on overall all-star appearances, All-Star players, and Hall of Famers, the 2000 Draft class is at the bottom. Kenyon Martin, the top pick and best player in this draft managed just one All-Star appearance. The rest of the top five, including Stromile Swift and Marcus Fizer, were complete busts. Like Mattin, Michael Redd and Jamaal Magloire all made just one all-star team.

Jamal Crawford was likely the most impactful and most certainly has the most highlights. Hedo Turkoglu provided some memories with the Sacramento Kings. Darius Miles and Quentin Richardson are more known for their post-career successful podcasting than any significant contributions in their journeyman NBA careers. After that? DeShawn Stevenson and Mark Madsen are the names you’d recognize the most.

Kenyon Martin, Redd and Magloire make up the only three abysmal All-Star appearances from this entire draft class – by far the least amount of appearances and tied with 1997 with the fewest All-Star players from one class (1997 had 27 All-Star selections between Billups, Duncan, and McGrady).

And the funny thing is Martin, Redd and Magloire all made their one and only all-star game in 2004. That NBA All-Star roster included Ron Artest and semi-All Stars Baron Davis, Ben Wallace, and  Jermaine O’Neal making the Eastern Conference  roster and likely one of the worst 12-man rosters in All Star history.

Not only that, this draft will not have one Hall of Famer. The player most likely to make the Hall of Fame is Crawford and he wasn’t even one of the players that made an All-Star game. This 2000 class stands as a testament to how bad an NBA Draft can truly be.