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

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New Orleans Pelicans, Karl Anthony Towns

Karl-Anthony Towns #32 of the Minnesota Timberwolves drives against Julius Randle #30 of the New Orleans Pelicans bachman/Getty Images) /

New Orleans Pelicans: Zion Ranks Higher than These Number One Picks

#40: John Lucas- Houston Rockets(1976)

A gifted passer who had a very long career.

#39: Jimmy Walker- Detroit Pistons (1967)

Had a couple of All-Star seasons, but his career was cut short by injuries. He also played in the era before they started keeping stats like rebounds and steals.

#38: Austin Carr- Cleveland Cavaliers (1971)

Dominated his first three years in the league, averaging over 20 a game, then his stats took a dip before an age 30 renaissance. Every player so far was at least 23-years-old when drafted, unthinkable in today’s NBA, where the top picks are almost always teenagers.

#37 Mychal Thompson- Portland Trail Blazers (1978)

Thompson had one season of 20.8 points and 11.7 rebounds and many more really good seasons but inexplicably never made an All-Star team.

#36 Doug Collins-Philadelphia 76ers (1973)

Probably better known as a coach and analyst than a player, but Collins averaged 17.9 points and made four All-Star teams in his eight year career. Collins, like many players from his era, had his career cut short by injuries, probably due to the fact that they all wore canvas shoes.

#35: Joe Barry Carroll- Golden State Warriors (1980)

Averaged 17.7 points and 7.7 rebounds for his career in addition to having a really cool name.

#34: Kenyon Martin- New Jersey Nets (2000)

Martin was the number one pick in possibly the worst NBA Draft of all-time. Seriously, what was happening during Y2k? The best player from this draft was Jamal Crawford! Martin had a nice career, averaging 12.3 points and 6.8 rebounds and has the dubious honor of being the first modern player on the list. Martin played 15 seasons and made one All-Star team.

#33: Elton Brand- Chicago Bulls (1999)

People forget that Elton Brand was pretty good, but he still gets lumped in with Martin, as his draft class was terrible. Brand was a 20/10 machine, never great, but always really good.

#32: Ben Simmons- Philadelphia 76ers (2016)

This one is obviously based on potential but Simmons has a chance to move way up on this list. He already practically averages a triple-double, is one of the best defensive players in the NBA, and is basically Kenyon Martin if he were a point guard who was an amazing passer. Simmons has already made more All-Star games than Brand or Martin and is sure to make 10-12 more.

#31: John Wall- Washington Wizards (2010)

Probably not as talented as Simmons and has had his career derailed several times by injury, but when healthy, Wall is very good. In the five straight years he made All-Star teams, Wall was one of the best point guards in the league, with several seasons averaging nearly 20 points and 10 assists per game. Unfortunately Wall is now known as “John Wall’s Awful Contract.”

#30 Karl-Anthony Towns- Minnesota Timberwolves (2015)

Another guy who has a chance to move way up on this list. Towns is one of the best big men in the game, has evolved into a modern stretch-five and is getting better on defense. There have been few bigs in the history of the NBA with his kind of skill set and he will undoubtedly climb higher on this list. The problem is that his teams have never won. I mean never. Like, he’s never beaten Andre Drummond, never. Winning matters, sorry KAT.