New Orleans Pelicans: Ranking the Top 40 No. 1 Picks of All-Time

The New Orleans Pelicans hit the jackpot with number one pick Zion Williamson, but where does he rank among his fellow top picks in the NBA Draft?

The New Orleans Pelicans got lucky.

Since the NBA Draft started in 1947, many teams have had the misfortune of choosing poorly with their pick (google Portland, Bowie), or having the number one pick in a year when there wasn’t an easily recognizable superstar, such as in 1998 when the Clippers chose Michael Olowokandi.

Not every number one pick is a superstar, and if you go through NBA draft history you’d find that there are far more busts than Hall of Famers.

The New Orleans Pelicans have been one of the lucky teams who have not only gotten a number one pick (twice) but got it in years when there was a consensus, can’t miss superstar. (Twice)

When compiling a list of the top-40 number one picks of all-time, we looked at accomplishments and potential. After all, it’s hard to put Zion Williamson ahead of Doug Collins if you only factor in what they achieved in the NBA.

So there are players on this list who may not have accomplished as much as, say, Clifton McNeeley of the Pittsburgh Ironmen, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say Zion would have done pretty well in McNeeley’s time.

The problem is that he wouldn’t have been allowed to because the league wasn’t even desegregated when McNeeley was picked number one.

We’ll not be adding anyone from that era to the list, as most of the talent was being oppressed and most of those guys wouldn’t make a high school team now. Apologies to Clifton, Andy Tonkovich and Howie Shannon.

The real history of the NBA Draft starts after everyone was allowed to play, so we’ll start there.

Here are the top-40 number one picks of all-time.