If you have the No. 13 pick and don't know what to choose, choose a shooting guard!
Many of the league's 13th picks since Kobe Bryant have played outstanding career performances, such as LaVine, Booker, Mitchell and Hiro. They are all important players or core players of their respective teams, helping the team to achieve better results. So far this season, the Suns have finished first in the league with 34 wins and 9 losses, 2.5 wins ahead of the second-place Warriors, of which one of the core of the team, Booker, has contributed.
Booker has played in 36 games so far in the season, averaging 24.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.4 assists in 32.9 minutes per game, shooting 45% from the field and 40% from three-point range, making him the Suns' top scorer. The 25-year-old Booker can be said to be in the golden age of his career, as a player with 13 picks in the first round of 15 years, he has become one of the league's outstanding defenders step by step through his own efforts, so who is the top three picks in the same draft with him? What is the current situation?
Third overall: Jariel Okafor
In 2014, Jalil-Okafor joined Duke University. In the 14-15 season, he averaged 17.3+8.6+1.4 blocks per game, won the NCAA Championship championship with the team, was named Atlantic Coast League Player of the Year, National New Artist and Atlantic Coast League Rookie, and was named to the 2015 All-American Team First Team. Okafor also set a number of new student records during his time at Duke: scoring doubles (35 games), rebounding totals (322), offensive rebounds (134), and dunks (64). It also led to his selection with the third overall pick in the first round in '15, and he started his career in Philadelphia. He has a good performance in the rookie season, averaging 17.5 points, 7 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.2 blocks in 30 minutes per game, and was selected to the first team of the best rookie team in the rookie season.
In March 2016, Philadelphia announced that Jalil Okafor missed the rest of the 2015-16 season due to injury, and since then Okafor has been plagued by injuries, with average performances in the 16-17 season beginning to decline, averaging only single digits per game in the 17-18 season, and then wandering teams looking for opportunities. After being cut in the 21-22 season, Okafor joined the CBA, and according to reports, the Guangsha men's basketball team signed him, and he is expected to play at the end of the second stage of the regular season.
Second pick: D'Angelo Russell
In the 15-16 season, the Lakers selected D'Angelo Russell with the second pick in the first round. He averaged 13.2 points, 3.4 board and 3.3 assists per game in the rookie season, and the Lakers made a deal with the Nets before the 17-18 draft, and the Nets sent the No. 27 pick and Brooke Lopez in the trade, from the Lakers to D'Angelo Russell and Timofe Mozgov. His second season with the Nets averaged 20+ points per game, and his 19-20 Warriors season was his best season to date, averaging 23.6 points, 3.7 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game.
Russell was sent to the Timberwolves in a trade at the start of the 19-20 season, and he also became one of the team's key players, averaging 18.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 7 assists so far this season, shooting 35% from three-point range, making him the team's third scoring point.
First overall pick: Carl Anthony Downs
The second and first picks of the same period are currently on the same team, and the Timberwolves selected Towns with the first pick in the first round in 2015, and he was cultivated as the core of the team. Giving him enough playing time and shooting rights, he also proved himself to the team with his own performance, averaging 20+ points per game at the beginning of the second season, and it is worth mentioning that he was fully diligent in the first three seasons of his career. After the season, Towns has also continued to improve, this season he averaged 24.5 points, 9.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.2 blocks, shooting 52% from the field, shooting 41.3% from three-point range, and averaging 2.2 three-pointers per game. The Timberwolves have finished seventh in the West with 22 wins and 22 losses so far this season.