New Orleans Pelicans: The 6 Best Players Taken with the 13th Pick

New Orleans Pelicans: Best 13th Picks of all time-Kobe Bryant and Karl Malone

1996-Kobe Bryant

Lorenzen Wright. Kerry Kittles. Samaki Walker. Erick Dampier. Todd Fuller. Vitaly Potapenko.

Just some of the players taken before Kobe Bean Bryant was selected 13th by the Charlotte Hornets. Most people forget that Kobe wasn’t actually drafted by the Lakers, but traded there from Charlotte for Vlade Divac.

Nice move Charlotte!  I can’t imagine why you’ve stunk forever.

The 1996 Draft is one of the great “what-ifs” of all time, as adding Kobe to just about any team would have altered the course of the franchise permanently.

Kobe Bryant is one of the greatest players of All-Time, the fourth leading scorer in history, an MVP and 5-time NBA Champion and he was picked 13th.

1985- Karl Malone

I’m not a fan of Karl Malone to be honest. He’s done some things off the court that cannot be forgiven. But on the court he was one of the greatest players ever, the second All-Time leading scorer (that’s right, he’s ahead of Jordan, Kobe and LeBron) and a guy who defined the power forward position.

He and John Stockton pretty much invented the modern pick-and-roll and Malone is certainly one of the top-20 players of All-Time.

The history of the 13th pick is not rich, but there have been some great role players, All-Stars and even a couple of All-Time greats.

The New Orleans Pelicans hope to strike gold at 13, as adding impact talent to this young team could make them a contender as soon as next season.