NBA Draft 2019: Top 25 undrafted players since 2000

There are names who weren’t called in the NBA Draft who went on to have quality careers. Who are the best since the turn of the century?

We’re less than a month away from the 2019 NBA Draft, with all eyes on the top players. Zion Williamson, Ja Morant, and R.J. Barrett are the projected top three picks, with plenty more talent to be drafted later in the night.

But like every year, there will be a bunch of players who won’t hear their names being called after all 60 picks are announced. That has included former All-Conference players, historic scorers and even All-Americans. History says that those who end up undrafted have a much harder time to make an NBA roster compared to their NFL counterparts, but not all is lost.

There have been examples of undrafted players who scratched and clawed their way to make an NBA team and overachieving the rest of the way. High profile examples before 2000 include Brad Miller, Raja Bell and multiple-time champion Bruce Bowen of the San Antonio Spurs.

For this piece, I’ll be taking a look at the NBA players who went undrafted after 2000 and managed to stick around. It’ll be a ranking of the top-25, using attributes such as length of career, highest peak and contributions towards a winning team.

It’s a tough task to compare those who are active and still creating their own history against the ones who are already retired. It’s also a different era when it comes to pacing and scoring overall.

It was a close call overall with some good players barely missing the cut, but the main takeaway to come from this project is that those signed to your favorite teams after the draft shouldn’t be overlooked – as they may play a big role on the franchise for the next decade.

*This article includes players who entered the 2000 NBA Draft or later, so even those who started their pro careers after this point such as Chris Andersen and Mike James are ineligible.