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

1. Gilbert Arenas, 2001, Golden State Warriors

Gilbert Arenas wasn’t supposed to be a star after the Golden State Warriors took him 31st overall in the 2001 NBA Draft. It just worked out that way.

Arenas averaged 10.9 points per game during an injury-plagued rookie season before taking over as Golden State’s starting point guard in 2002-03 and averaging 18.3 points, 6.3 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 35.0 minutes per game.

That landed him a massive offer sheet from the Washington Wizards for more than $62 million, one that the Warriors couldn’t hope to match.

That prompted the NBA to include a provision in the 2005 Collective Bargaining Agreement to help teams keep restricted free agents who have only one or two years in the league (second-rounders). The first-year salary on such an offer sheet can’t exceed the amount of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception.

Arenas exploded as a superstar in Washington, averaging 25.0 points per game over parts of eight seasons with the Wizards and earning three All-NBA selections and three All-Star berths.

A knee injury in 2008 put Arenas on a declining course and he bounced around to the Orlando Magic and Memphis Grizzlies before he was out of the league, playing the 2012-13 season in China before retiring.

Arenas was still being paid on his eight-year contract signed with the Wizards in 2008 four years after he was out of the NBA (much to the delight of the Twitterverse), but he also was one of the best second-round picks in NBA history.

Arenas just slides into the top-50 all-time with his career average of 20.7 points per game and he also put up 5.3 assists and 1.6 steals a game over his 11-year NBA career.

At the time his career ended, Arenas was one of just 67 players with at least 1,000 made 3-pointers, but he’s now dropped from 54th to 90th on the all-time list.