NBA Draft History: Can Blazers Nab Star at No. 7?

With the No. 7 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, the Portland Trail Blazers will select someone who has a chance to be a major impact player for the franchise.

In the last 25 drafts, a majority of No. 7 overall picks have gone on to have successful careers. Of those 25 players, five went on to have All-Star careers (Richard Hamilton, Luol Deng, Julius Randle, Jamal Murray, Lauri Markkanen) and one (Stephen Curry) is a surefire Hall-of-Famer.

There’s another tier of players who went on to have successful careers. Nene, Kirk Hinrich, Charlie Villanueva, Randy Foye, Corey Brewer, Eric Gordon, Greg Monroe, Bismack Biyombo, and Harrison Barnes all went on to play at least 10 years in the NBA and were impactful players at their stops in their careers. Chris Mihm and one-time Blazers guard Ben McLemore each played nine years in the NBA, but failed to live up to expectations.

There’s also a handful of young players that still have a chance to make a name for themselves, including Wendell Carter Jr., Coby White, Jonathan Kuminga, Bilal Coulibaly and the Blazers’ own Shaedon Sharpe.

The only former No. 7 picks from the last 25 years that didn’t pan out are 2001’s Eddie Griffin, who dealt with alcoholism and passed away in 2007, and Killian Hayes, who was cut by the Detroit Pistons midway through this season.

This means that if history has anything to do with it, the Blazers should almost certainly nab a strong prospect when they are on the clock at No. 7.