NBA Draft: 5 best picks of lottery era at No. 31

2. Carl Landry, 2007, Seattle SuperSonics

The Seattle SuperSonics took Purdue forward Carl Landry with the 31st overall pick to open the second round in the 2007 NBA Draft with a pick they had acquired along with a 2006 second-rounder from the Memphis Grizzlies in June 2005 for the long-forgotten Lawrence Roberts.

But Landry didn’t stay with the Sonics long, traded on draft night to the Houston Rockets for a 2008 second-round pick and some cash.

He quickly blossomed into a valuable reserve for the Rockets and had his best season in 2009-10, averaging 16.1 points and 5.5 rebounds per game on 53.6 percent shooting in 52 games off the bench for Houston before getting traded to the Sacramento Kings as part of the three-team extravaganza that sent Tracy McGrady from Houston to the New York Knicks.

With the Kings, he took on a starting role and put up 18.0 points and 6.5 boards per game the rest of the way before setting back into a bench role the following season before he was traded to the New Orleans Hornets.

He later spent time with the Golden State Warriors, returned to the Kings for two seasons and played the 2015-16 season with the processing Philadelphia 76ers before he was waived.

Landry sat out a season before continuing his career in China in 2017 and played this season with the Hiroshima Dragonfiles in Japan’s B.League.

The 6-foot-9, 248-pounder was a second-team All-Rookie selection with Houston in 2007-08 and averaged 10.8 points and 4.9 rebounds in 22.5 minutes per game over 513 career appearances that included 93 starts. He was a career 53.5 percent shooter and a solid foul shooter for a big at 78.5 percent.