Breaking Down the Historic 1996 NBA Draft

The 1996 NBA draft is in the conversation for the greatest NBA draft class of all time.

Not all NBA draft classes are equal. But the 1996 class still is considered one of the greatest. It features more All-NBA Team selections than any other NBA draft, three NBA Most Valuable Player award winners, and one-third of the first-round picks made an All-Star team at some point in their career.

What made that 1996 NBA draft so great? How come this draft class stands out? And why do these players remain such a special group in NBA history?

Here are the 14 NBA draft lottery picks in 1996 (plus one special addition) and what made them so historic.

15. Phoenix Suns: Steve Nash

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College: Santa Clara

Position: Point guard

Career: 19 seasons (1996-2015)

Teams: Phoenix Suns (1996-1998, 2004-2012), Dallas Mavericks (1998-2004), Los Angeles Lakers (2012-2015)

Career highlights: Two-time NBA MVP (2005, 2006), eight-time NBA All-Star (2002, 2003, 2005-08, 2010, 2012), seven-time All-NBA Team (2002, 2003, 2005-08, 2010)

Bottom line: We’re starting with the first pick outside of the lottery to show just how deep this draft was. Steve Nash ended up being a two-time NBA Most Valuable Player for the Phoenix Suns, but not until he re-signed with the franchise in 2004, after the Suns traded him to the Dallas Mavericks in 1998 and he became a superstar in six seasons there.

Nash, who played high school basketball in Canada, put himself on the map at tiny Santa Clara University with one game — leading No. 15 seed Santa Clara to an upset of No. 2-seed Arizona in the 1993 NCAA tournament.

14. Sacramento Kings: Peja Stojakovic

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European club: P.A.O.K. (Greece)

Position: Small forward

Career: 13 seasons (1998-2011)

Teams: Sacramento Kings (1998-2006), Indiana Pacers (2006), New Orleans Hornets (2006-10), Toronto Raptors (2010-11), Dallas Mavericks (2011)

Career highlights: NBA champion (2011), three-time NBA All-Star (2002-04), All-NBA Team (2004), two-time NBA Three-Point Contest champion (2002, 2003)

Bottom line: Peja Stojakovic was born in Yugoslavia but became a Greek citizen by the time he was 17 years old and was drafted by the Sacramento Kings just a few weeks after his 19th birthday. He went on to become one of the premier small forwards of his era and a three-time NBA All-Star.

We’re betting even money that you’ll be hearing another Stojakovic’s name in the NBA draft soon. Peja Stojakovic’s son, Andrej Stojakovic, is a 6-foot-7 small forward for Jesuit High in Sacramento and is one of the top-rated recruits in the nation for the Class of 2023.

13. Charlotte Hornets: Kobe Bryant

Lower Merion High shooting guard Kobe Bryant

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High School: Lower Merion High School (Ardmore, Pennsylvania)

Position: Shooting guard

Career: 20 seasons (1996-2016)

Teams: Los Angeles Lakers

Career highlights: Five-time NBA champion (2000-02, 2009, 2010), two-time NBA Finals MVP 2009, 2010), NBA MVP (2008), 18-time NBA All-Star (1998, 2000-16), four-time NBA All-Star Game MVP (2002, 2007, 2009, 2011), 15-time All-NBA (1999-2013), 12-time NBA All-Defensive Team (2000-04, 2006-12)

Bottom line: Few teenage athletes have stirred up the sheer amount of hype and anticipation as the late, great Kobe Bryant. The Charlotte Hornets selected Kobe at No. 13 overall in 1996, but the Los Angeles Lakers pulled off a draft-day trade (re: heist) to land the Lower Merion High School phenom.

Bryant played his entire, 20-year career for the Lakers, winning five NBA championships, and became one of the greatest players in NBA history. He even won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 2018 for “Dear Basketball” — the first professional athlete ever nominated for an Academy Award and the first African-American to win an Oscar in that category.

12. Cleveland Cavaliers: Vitaly Potapenko

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College: Wright State

Position: Center

Career: 11 seasons (1996-2007)

Teams: Cleveland Cavaliers (1996-99), Boston Celtics (1999-2002), Seattle SuperSonics (2002-06), Sacramento Kings (2006-07)

Career highlights: Two-time First-Team All-MCC (1995, 1996)

Bottom line: This pick has to still sting for Cleveland Cavaliers fans. Five of the next seven picks were either multiple time NBA All-Stars or made at least one All-NBA Team, including Hall of Famers Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash.

Potapenko was awful. He only started three games in his first two seasons and averaged 6.5 points and 4.5 rebounds over 11 NBA seasons.

11. Golden State Warriors: Todd Fuller

North Carolina State c enter Todd Fuller

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College: North Carolina State

Position: Center

Career: 5 seasons (1996-2001)

Teams: Golden State Warriors (1996-99), Utah Jazz (1999), Charlotte Hornets (1999-2000), Miami Heat (2000-01)

Career highlights: Three-time All-ACC (1994-96), North Carolina Mr. Basketball (1992)

Bottom line: You thought the Cleveland Cavaliers picking Vitaly Potapenko was bad?

The Golden State Warriors, desperate to fill the void left in the post by Chris Webber two years earlier, made the head-scratching decision to select North Carolina State center Todd Fuller at No. 11 overall.

Fuller, who turned down a Rhodes Scholarship for pro basketball, played five seasons for four different teams before his career came to an end.

10. Indiana Pacers: Erick Dampier

Susan Ragan / AP Photo

College: Mississippi State

Position: Center

Career: 16 seasons (1996-2012)

Teams: Indiana Pacers (1996-97), Golden State Warriors (1997-2004), Dallas Mavericks (2004-10), Miami Heat (2010-11), Atlanta Hawks (2012)

Career highlights: Three-time All-SEC (1994-96)

Bottom line: Erick Dampier had a reputation as a shot blocker for Mississippi State. And that was pretty much it.

Such a brutal pick for the Indiana Pacers and their fans. Even though Dampier played 16 seasons in the NBA, you can never get over missing out on a run of Hall of Famers and All-Stars just a few picks later, beginning with Kobe Bryant at No. 13, or Steve Nash at No. 15.

Can you imagine a young Steve Nash alongside Reggie Miller in his prime?

9. Dallas Mavericks: Samaki Walker

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College: Louisville

Position: Power forward

Career: 10 seasons (1996-2006)

Teams: Dallas Mavericks (1996-99), San Antonio Spurs (1999-2001), Los Angeles Lakers (2001-03), Miami Heat (2003-04), Washington Wizards (2004-05), Indiana Pacers (2005-06)

Career highlights: NBA champion (2002), Parade All-American (1994)

Bottom line: For where he was selected, it’s hard to make any excuse for the Dallas Mavericks selecting Louisville star Samaki Walker, who played 10 seasons in the NBA for six different teams.

Walker’s biggest contribution as a pro was as a role player for the Los Angeles Lakers in 2001-2002, when they won their third consecutive NBA title.

8. New Jersey Nets: Kerry Kittles

Kathy Willens / AP Photo

College: Villanova

Position: Shooting guard

Career: 8 seasons (1996-2000, 2001-05)

Teams: New Jersey Nets (1996-2004), Los Angeles Clippers (2004-05)

Career highlights: NBA All-Rookie Team (1997), two-time AP All-American (1995, 1996), Big East Player of the Year (1995), three-time All-Big East (1994-96)

Bottom line: If you’re a Nets fan and know the history of this pick, you understand its grand implications. Former New Jersey Nets head coach John Calipari wanted to pick Lower Merion High shooting guard Kobe Bryant at No. 8 overall, but the then-high schooler and his agent tricked Calipari into not picking Kobe, and the Nets coach selected Kerry Kittles instead.

Kittles averaged 14.1 points in eight NBA seasons, which is kind of beside the point. Had Calipari stuck to his guns and picked Bryant (even with the understanding he would never play there), can you imagine the haul the Los Angeles Lakers would have given up to the Nets in order to get the high school phenom?

7. Los Angeles Clippers: Lorenzen Wright

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College: Memphis

Position: Center

Career: 13 seasons (1996-2009)

Teams: Los Angeles Clippers (1996-99), Atlanta Hawks (1999-2001, 2006-08), Memphis Grizzlies (2001-06), Sacramento Kings (2008), Cleveland Cavaliers (2008-09)

Career highlights: AP All-American (1996), All-Conference USA (1996), McDonald’s All-American (1994), Parade All-American (1994)

Bottom line: Lorenzen Wright lasted 13 seasons in the NBA, spending the first decade as a solid if unspectacular role player and beloved teammate. He only played 22 games over his final two seasons.

Wright’s story is one of the more tragic in NBA history. One year after he played his last NBA game, he was found shot to death in an empty field a few months after being reported missing.

Almost a decade after his murder, his ex-wife, Sherra Wright-Robinson, and a local church deacon were arrested for his murder. His ex-wife was eventually sentenced to 30 years in prison.

6. Boston Celtics: Antoine Walker

Dave Martin / AP Photo

College: Kentucky

Position: Forward

Career: 12 seasons (1996-2008)

Teams: Boston Celtics (1996-2003, 2005), Dallas Mavericks (2003-04), Atlanta Hawks (2004-05), Miami Heat (2005-07), Minnesota Timberwolves (2007-08)

Career highlights: NBA champion (2006), three-time NBA All-Star (1998, 2002, 2003), NBA All-Rookie Team (1997)

Bottom line: It’s tough to think of Antoine Walker’s career without thinking of his epic financial struggles. Despite more than $108 million in career earnings, he filed for bankruptcy in 2010, just two years after his final NBA season.

In one of the more dubious distinctions of his career, Walker is close to owning one NBA record — his 144 technical fouls are among the most technical fouls in league history.

5. Minnesota Timberwolves: Ray Allen

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College: Connecticut

Position: Shooting guard

Career: 18 seasons (1996-2014)

Teams: Milwaukee Bucks (1996-2003), Seattle SuperSonics (2003-07), Boston Celtics (2007-12), Miami Heat (2012-14)

Career highlights: Two-time NBA champion (2008, 2013), 10-time NBA All-Star (2000-02, 2004-09, 2011), two-time All-NBA (2005, 2011), NBA All-Rookie Team (1997), NBA 75th Anniversary Team

Bottom line: If you want to know what a perfect jump shot looks like, just watch highlights of Ray Allen shooting the ball. The 1996 Big East Player of the Year at UConn left school one season early for the NBA draft and was part of a draft-day trade from the team that picked him, Minnesota, to the Milwaukee Bucks, where he played his first seven seasons.

Allen’s basketball fame hit another level in the second half of his career, when he won NBA championships with the Boston Celtics in 2008 and Miami Heat in 2013, when he hit one of the most clutch shots in NBA history in the 2013 NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs.

4. Milwaukee Bucks: Stephon Marbury

Georgia Tech point guard Stephon Marbury

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College: Georgia Tech

Position: Point guard

Career: 13 seasons (1996-2009)

Teams: Minnesota Timberwolves (1996-99), New Jersey Nets (1996-2001), Phoenix Suns (2001-04), New York Knicks (2004-09), Boston Celtics (2009)

Career highlights: Two-time NBA All-Star (1997, 2003), two-time All-NBA Team (2000, 2003), NBA All-Rookie Team (1997)

Bottom line: Stephon Marbury was one of the most celebrated high school basketball players of all time coming out of Coney Island in the early 1990s and played one season at Georgia Tech before bolting for the NBA draft.

Marbury’s personality made him ill-suited for helping team chemistry. He was a two-time All-NBA Team pick who played on five teams in 13 NBA seasons and only made it past the first round of the playoffs once, in his final season with the Boston Celtics in 2009 when he was well past his prime.

3. Vancouver Grizzlies: Shareef Abdur-Rahim

Mark J. Terrill / AP Photo

College: Cal

Position: Forward

Career: 12 seasons (1996-2008)

Teams: Vancouver Grizzlies (1996-2001), Atlanta Hawks (2001-04), Portland Trail Blazers (2004-05), Sacramento Kings (2005-08)

Career highlights: NBA All-Star (2002), NBA All-Rookie Team (1997)

Bottom line: Shareef Abdur-Rahim was about a decade ahead of his time coming out of Cal, where he was a “one and done” player about a decade before it became the de facto standard for elite college players.

Abdur-Rahim was also about a decade ahead of his time in what he could do on the court. He was a 6-foot-9 shooter who played in an era where height mostly determined where you played on the court with few exceptions.

How good of a shooter was Abdur-Rahim? He hit over 35 percent of his three-pointers in four different seasons, including a career-high 41.2 percent in 1997-1998, and shot 81 percent from the free-throw line for his career.

One problem? He only made it to the postseason once in 12 seasons.

2. Toronto Raptors: Marcus Camby

Andrew Innerarity / AP Photo

College: Massachusetts

Position: Center

Career: 16 seasons (1996-2012)

Teams: Toronto Raptors (1996-98), New York Knicks (1998-2002, 2012-13), Denver Nuggets (2002-08), Los Angeles Clippers (2008-10), Portland Trail Blazers (2010-12), Houston Rockets (2012)

Career highlights: NBA Defensive Player of the Year (2007), four-time NBA All-Defensive Team (2005-08), NBA All-Rookie Team (1997)

Bottom line: Marcus Camby was the National Player of the Year at UMass as a junior in 1996 after he led the Minutemen to the Final Four and set the NCAA record with 43 blocks in the NCAA tournament. These achievements were mostly wiped off the record books when it was discovered Camby received $28,000 from sports agents in that period.

In any redraft, Camby obviously doesn’t go No. 2, but he still goes pretty high. He led the NBA in blocks four times (including one decade apart), was the NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 2007 and a four-time NBA All-Defensive Team pick.

1. Philadelphia 76ers: Allen Iverson

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College: Georgetown

Position: Point guard

Career: 14 seasons (1996-2010)

Teams: Philadelphia 76ers (1996-2006, 2009-10), Denver Nuggets (2006-08), Detroit Pistons (2008-09), Memphis Grizzlies (2009)

Career highlights: NBA MVP (2001), 11-time NBA All-Star (2000-10), two-time NBA All-Star Game MVP (2001, 2005), seven-time All-NBA Team (1999-2003, 2005), NBA Rookie of the Year (1997)

Bottom line: It was a small miracle Allen Iverson was even eligible to be drafted in 1996 after two years at Georgetown. Had things played out a different way, he would still have been serving a five-year sentence for maiming by mob in his native Virginia, a sentence given when he was just 17 years old.

Iverson was granted clemency from former Virginia governor Douglas Wilder and allowed to leave prison and attend Georgetown. The 6-footer became an All-American and the two-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year. And the surefire No. 1 pick in the 1996 NBA draft.