With just over two weeks left for the 2025 NBA Draft, executives across the league are likely to be engaged in discussions and debates surrounding what to do with their picks.
While large-scale draft trades have been uncommon in recent years, the general expectation is that draft night in 2025 is expected to buck that trend. As the likes of the San Antonio Spurs and Philadelphia 76ers look to propel themselves into contention by maximising their right to draft with the top 3 picks.
There have been a plethora of moves that altered the trajectory of franchises on draft days in the past. Here, we take a look at some of the best draft day moves in NBA history based on their impact.
Some of these moves set the foundations for dynasties, while the others extended dynasties. Some made a cultural impact that went way beyond winning, and some presented what-if scenarios for some of the greatest players of all time.
#5. Ray Allen to the Boston Celtics, 2007 NBA Draft
While the other trades discussed in this list involve the draft rights to legendary players being moved by teams, this one saw a legendary player being traded for, to accelerate a team’s desire to win.
The Boston Celtics hadn’t won an NBA championship since the days of Larry Bird and wanted to set themselves up for success. In Paul Pierce, they had an All-NBA player, but the team around him was only good enough to secure 33 wins in 2006-07, a measly record that earned them the 5th overall pick in 2007.
The Celtics brass moved the pick to the Seattle Supersonics in return for their veteran All-Star Ray Allen. They weren’t done making moves, though, as just a month later, they acquired Kevin Garnett, forming a “big three”, capping off one of the best offseasons ever by a franchise.
The trade paid off almost immediately, with Ray Allen and his sharpshooting playing a key role in the Celtics’ ascent to NBA glory in 2008.
The No. 5 pick they traded away turned into the selection of Jeff Green by the Supersonics, and while Green became a valuable NBA player, it is unlikely that he would have raised the ceiling of this team, making this one of the best value draft day trades of all time.
#4. Vince Carter to the Toronto Raptors, 1998 NBA Draft
On Draft Day in 1998, the Toronto Raptors and the Golden State Warriors engaged in what appeared to be an innocuous trade.
The Raptors moved Antawn Jamison, their selection with the 4th overall pick in the draft, to the Warriors in return for Vince Carter, the 5th overall pick by the Warriors from the same draft class.
Little did anyone at the time realise how impactful this trade would turn out to be.
While Jamison played out his career as a decent NBA player, Carter rose to instant superstardom. The newly formed Toronto Raptors had their talisman, and as “Air Canada” rose, the Raptors rose to prominence too.
“Vinsanity” took the league by storm and made the Raptors one of the most popular and marketable teams in the league. For a brief while, Carter was the face of the league and looked like the apparent heir to the throne of Michael Jordan.
Things did get sour, and Carter did force his way out after a few years at Toronto, but the everlasting impact he had on the Raptors and Canadian basketball cannot be understated.
#3. Scottie Pippen to the Chicago Bulls, 1987 NBA Draft
Michael Jordan had already broken out as the biggest name in the NBA despite only being drafted in 1984. The Chicago Bulls brass were quick to identify that their championship window had opened and sought to maximise it.
Enter Scottie Pippen. On Draft day in 1987, the Bulls moved up to the No. 5 pick in the draft to select Pippen, trading Olden Polynice (No. 8 pick in the draft) and future picks.
Batman got given his Robin, and with Jordan and Pippen spearheading the famed “triangle” offence, the Bulls went on to win 6 NBA titles, maintaining a 6-0 record in the NBA Finals. Pippen established himself as arguably the greatest second option ever and is considered one of the best wing defenders of all time.
Bulls pulled off a Draft Day heist off the Supersonics, and to rub salt on Seattle’s wounds, defeated them in the 1996 NBA Finals with Pippen playing a key role in their triumph as he always did.
#2. Kobe Bryant to the Los Angeles Lakers, 1996 NBA Draft
Jerry West may have only won one championship for the Lakers as a player, but with the Draft day trade he orchestrated in 1996 as the franchise’s GM, he made sure that the Lakers got five more Larry O’Brien trophies to add to their storied legacy.
From one of the deepest draft classes in history, West identified a teenage Kobe Bryant as the player he wanted most and sent productive veteran Vlade Divac to the Hornets in return for the right to select Bryant 13th overall in the 1996 NBA Draft.
Notable players selected in the 1996 NBA Draft (Source: Basketball Reference):
| Draft Pick | Player | Team |
| 1 | Allen Iverson | Philadelphia 76ers |
| 4 | Stephon Marbury | Milwaukee Bucks (traded to Minnesota Timberwolves) |
| 5 | Ray Allen | Minnesota Timberwolves (traded to Milwaukee Bucks) |
| 13 | Kobe Bryant | Charlotte Hornets (traded to Los Angeles Lakers) |
| 14 | Peja Stojakovic | Sacramento Kings |
| 15 | Steve Nash | Phoenix Suns |
| 17 | Jermaine O’Neal | Portland Trail Blazers |
| 6 | Antoine Walker | Boston Celtics |
The rest, as they say, is history. West went on to sign Shaquille O’Neal in free agency in the same offseason, setting up the greatest one-two punch in league history. With Shaq and Kobe, the Lakers completed a three-peat – a feat that has not been repeated since.
O’Neal later left the Lakers, but Kobe stayed on and won the franchise two more championships before eventually retiring in 2016 after a career that spanned 20 years.
Rarely has a team found such value from a draft pick that wasn’t their own, and that alone earns this trade a spot in this list.
#1. Dirk Nowitzki to the Dallas Mavericks, 1998 NBA Draft
In Bryant’s case or Scottie Pippen’s case earlier, one can see how teams trade up to get a specific player they really like for their future.
Dirk Nowitzki, though, was handed on a platter to the Dallas Mavericks as a result of the Milwaukee Bucks’ aggressive move to trade up to the No. 6 pick to select Robert Traylor.
The Bucks moved their pick in the draft, at No.9, and Pat Garrity to the Mavericks in return for the draft rights to select Traylor and gifted the Mavericks the opportunity to draft their greatest player of all time in the process.
Nowitzki stayed loyal to the Mavericks for his entire career, took significant pay cuts to ensure that the roster around him could be constructed better, and spearheaded arguably the single greatest underdog run in the Playoffs, taking the Mavericks to the promised land in 2011.
The German superstar also redefined how 7-footers were expected to play and paved the way for more European talent into the NBA, serving as a real trailblazer for a new era of basketball.