10 Times the Brooklyn Nets missed on a superstar in the NBA Draft

8. Paul George – 2010

The Nets were coming off the league-worst and their franchise-worst 12-70 record in the 2009-10 season, but the organization still didn’t end up with the right to the first overall pick in the draft.

In retrospect, however, they wouldn’t need to win the draft lottery in order to draft the best player, as Paul George slipped all the way down to the Indiana Pacers at the 10th overall pick.

Although George didn’t light it up when he first got into the league, he was able to establish himself as one of the game’s best two-way players by his third season, and help make the Pacers a serious threat to win a championship.

Currently with the Los Angeles Clippers, George finished third in MVP voting with the Oklahoma City Thunder during the 2018-19 season.

The Nets ended up taking Derrick Favors with the third overall pick, as Favors was later dealt to the Utah Jazz in a package to acquire Deron Williams, so maybe George would’ve ended up in Utah as well, as the Nets probably would not have passed up on the opportunity of acquiring arguably the league’s best point guard at the time.

Favors ended up being a solid role player for the Jazz with averages of 12.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game 576 games with the team, but he never quite lived up to expectations.