2010 NBA Re-Draft

Highlights

• In a re-draft of the 2010 NBA Draft, the top five picks would have been changed.
• Paul George is clearly the best player from the draft class.
• Eric Bledsoe goes fifth overall in a re-draft, signaling a weak class in 2010.

The decade of NBA Drafts for the 2010s started off on a rough foot. There are some stellar draft classes between the years of 2010 and 2019, but the 2010 NBA Draft is not one of them.

When looking back at this class, the quality is simply not that strong. There are a few players who very clearly stand out above the rest, but on the whole, it was not too difficult to single those players out.

When it comes to re-drafting the top five in this class, it is probably as easy as it comes in comparison to some of the other years out there. The best player of this class stands head and shoulders above the rest. There are a few names past that who also considerably separate themselves from their peers.

Given a chance to do things over, the top five receive a solid makeover. Interestingly enough though, two of the original top five picks remain among the group. Given the time that has passed from when this draft took place to now, hindsight does a lot of favors in terms of establishing the clear pecking order of the players involved in the 2010 NBA Draft.

1 Washington Wizards: Paul George

Original Pick: John Wall

Life does not come with a lot of easy decisions, but this was certainly one of them. With the benefit of hindsight, Paul George should absolutely have been the top pick in this draft.

George originally went 10th overall to the Indiana Pacers. It is understandable why he was taken a bit later too. A young George who was just coming into the league was seen as quite raw, needing time and development if he were to truly blossom.

Looking back at that all these years later should give one a good laugh considering how polished George’s offensive game is now. He developed into not only one of the best wings in basketball but truly, one of the most skilled players at the position.

George jumped on the scene in the 2012-13 season with his first All-Star appearance and All-NBA selection. He never looked back from there.

George spent a lot of his early years with the Pacers posing what many felt was the biggest threat to LeBron James and the Miami Heat big three. They never got over that hump, but they sure made the Heat work for it every single time they matched up in the playoffs.

There was a chance early in George’s career that he would never receive the opportunity to turn into the player that he was. He managed to survive a very nasty-looking leg injury that could have realistically left him looking like a shell of his former self.

Instead, George had an inspiring comeback and returned to the league still performing at the star level everyone knew him to be capable of. He does not get enough kudos for this.

George had arguably his best season as a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder. In 2018-19, he finished third in the MVP race, leading a strong Thunder team alongside Russell Westbrook.

He has since joined the Los Angeles Clippers, where he continues to maintain his status as a star in the league in spite of battling more injuries. Although, George could be looking for a new home this offseason.

Ultimately, when it comes to the top pick of this draft, George is by far and away the clear-cut favorite to go first overall in a re-draft. His sustained levels of success and star power cannot be rivaled by a single player from the 2010 NBA Draft.

2 Philadelphia 76ers: John Wall

Original Pick: Evan Turner

The next three picks in this all include a dealer’s choice of star players whose careers were hampered by injuries to some capacity. Ultimately, it feels like John Wall has an edge over the other two.

Wall gets the slight nod over the next player on the list for a combination of marginally better accolades and, more importantly, team success. When Wall was at his best, the Washington Wizards were a perennial playoff team in the Eastern Conference.

The pairing of Wall and Bradley Beal had the Wizards locked into the playoffs for four out of five seasons from the 2013-14 campaign until the 2017-18 one. 2016-17 was Wall’s best individual run, by a mile. He averaged 27.2 points, 10.3 assists, and 1.7 steals per game, leading the team.

Injuries would eventually ruin Wall’s career. Despite coming back from a laundry list of health-related issues in the 2020-21 season, he struggled to adapt to a more modest role in the league. Eventually, that would be his downfall, as teams were no longer interested in his services.

3 New Jersey (now Brooklyn) Nets: DeMarcus Cousins

Original Pick: Derrick Favors

There is an argument to be made that DeMarcus Cousins peaked higher than Wall did in the NBA. At his best, Cousins was considered the best center in basketball. However, with all due respect to Cousins, that has more to do with the quality of big men in the league at the time than it does to do with him.

That should not be taken as an outright knock on Boogie, he was a very good player. However, his competition for the title at the time was certainly weak.

The lack of team success for Cousins is the big factor that really holds him back from properly challenging Wall for the second spot on this list. He put up phenomenal numbers at his peak. Between 2013 and 2018, he averaged 25.2 points and 11.9 rebounds per game.

Cousins did not participate in the playoffs until the 2018-19 season, as a member of the Golden State Warriors. At that point, Cousin was not the player he was once, coming off an injury.

Cousins certainly had the numbers and production of a star. However, he did not lead his teams to anything of note, making it hard to justify putting him any higher than this.

4 Minnesota Timberwolves: Gordon Hayward

Original Pick: Wesley Johnson

Gordon Hayward was a very promising player at one point in his career. In his 7th season, Hayward was named an All-Star for the first time with the Utah Jazz. He followed up his first All-Star selection with the Jazz by having a strong playoff campaign.

He averaged 24.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game, leading the Jazz in the 2016-17 campaign. After it was over, Hayward teamed up with Kyrie Irving for the Boston Celtics. What followed was a leg injury that was unbelievably nasty that it could not even be properly embedded from YouTube due to a content warning. Hayward’s leg was not facing the right direction.

Hayward worked his way back from the injury to continue his career, but his days as a star in the league were over.

He remained a productive player post-injury, but it really stunted a career that could have turned out much stronger for Hayward. Nonetheless, he easily remains one of the best players in this class in spite of that.

Hayward has been a solid contributor and a productive scorer at every spot in his career. His career journey still far outclasses most players from the 2010 NBA Draft.

5 Sacramento Kings: Eric Bledsoe

Original Pick: DeMarcus Cousins

The fifth spot on this list is up for some debate, between Hassan Whiteside, Derrick Favors and Eric Bledsoe. Ultimately, Bledsoe slightly edges them out for having the higher peak and some accolades to go with it.

At his best, Bledsoe was a key player for both the Phoenix Suns and the Milwaukee Bucks. From 2013 through 2020, he averaged 17.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, 5.7 assists, and 1.5 steals per game.

Bledsoe’s inclusion in the fifth spot speaks to the overall quality of the class. Bledsoe was a solid player, but by comparison to some other draft years in this decade, there are better names who occupy the final spot in the top five.

When all is said and done, the 2010 NBA Draft class will likely only feature one Hall of Fame player. George feels like a strong candidate to be inducted some day. Past him, even the best players of the class feature some shred of disappointment and unfulfilled career potential. To be fair to those players, most of it was injury-related.

Overall, the 2010 NBA Draft will not be remembered as one of the better years in NBA history.

Stats are courtesy of Basketball Reference.