NBA Draft 2024: 10 biggest lottery "busts" from the past 10 years

5. Thon Maker – Milwaukee Bucks (2016: Pick 10)

It was a complicated upbringing for Maker, who was born in Sudan, fled to Australia, and later attended multiple schools in the United States. The 7-footer was a profound talent on the basketball court and would play a prep year in Ontario before becoming eligible for the NBA Draft in 2016. He was an immense prospect leading up to that draft and did become a lottery selection, though he clearly wouldn’t live up to that billing.

Maker was picked 10th overall by the Milwaukee Bucks, joining a franchise that already had success with at least one international prospect. Unfortunately, Maker failed to live up to his top billings with the Bucks, averaging just 4.5 points a game across two and a half seasons before being traded to the Detroit Pistons. He’d spend the entirety of five seasons in the Central division as a limited contributor, including an 8-game stay with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2020.

Since that time, Maker has played both overseas and in the G-League and is currently out in Lebanon while the Bucks got little value from that Top 10 pick. The next two picks of the draft (Domantas Sabonis and Taurean Prince) have both been solid NBA pieces for the last eight years, while familiar names like Malik Beasley and Caris LaVert were taken a little later in that first round. Maker just didn’t make it in the NBA, though at least it’s not a move that cost the Bucks in the long-term.