Which NBA Teams Draft the Best?

Wondering which team is the most likely to hit on their 2025 NBA Draft picks? Check out our index of the best-performing NBA teams during draft season.

The NBA is known for its fast-paced, non-stop action and this extends off the court. Just days after the 2024/25 NBA season culminated with the Oklahoma City Thunder defeating the Indiana Pacers in game 7, attention has already turned to the 2025 NBA Draft.

Whether it’s successfully choosing a franchise player or picking a bust who falls short of expectations, the draft can make or break careers for those working in a front office. With this in mind, the team at Betway decided to analyse the last 10 drafts in order to crown the NBA’s best drafters using the following metrics: 

• Players drafted to make an All-Rookie team

• Players drafted to make an All-NBA team (including defensive)

• All-Stars drafted

• End of season award winners/regular season stat leaders drafted

• NBA champions drafted

According to our data, The Memphis Grizzlies are the best drafters in the NBA. In the last 10 drafts, no team has drafted more rookies to make an All-Rookie team than the Grizzlies’ seven.

Memphis also ranked joint top in players drafted to make an All-NBA team (3) and players drafted to be named an All-Star (2). As well as this, only two teams had drafted more end of season award winners/stat leaders than Memphis’ two. All this resulted in the Grizzlies topping our index with an impressive total score of 75.56.

Finishing narrowly behind the Grizzlies in second place were the San Antonio Spurs. Selecting Stephon Castle and Victor Wembanyama in back-to-back years combined with some other shrewd picks led to the Spurs receiving a total score of 73.02.

Like the Grizzlies, San Antonio had three players drafted make an All-NBA team and two draftees who have been named All-Stars. In addition to this, the Spurs had the joint most end of season award winners/stat leaders drafted too (3).

Rounding off the top three were the Boston Celtics. While some blockbuster moves in recent years such as Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward haven’t worked out for the Cs, their work in the draft has been key to the franchise’s success recently.

Selecting superstars such as Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and last season’s Sixth Man of the Year in Payton Pritchard led to the Celtics scoring a total of 70.16.

When looking at the current champions, the Thunder ranked 13th. The NBA champions have drafted a respectable 4 players to make an All-Rookie team meanwhile this year’s success means only the Golden State Warriors can match Oklahoma City’s nine NBA Champions drafted.

The top talent spotters in the NBA can be seen below.

So, there are the NBA teams who have the best eye for talent! However, all it takes is one home run at the top or maybe even a steal later on for teams to turn their fortunes around! And if you’re looking for more content like this or odds on the NBA Draft itself, please visit the Betway site!

Methodology

We looked at every NBA team’s draft pick over the last 10 drafts and analysed them based on the following metrics:

• Players drafted to make an All-NBA team (including defensive)

• All-Stars drafted

• End of season award winners/regular season stat leaders drafted

• NBA champions drafted

Each team was then given a normalized score (Max 100) based on how they performed in each metric. 

*If a player was traded on the night they were drafted, the team that traded for them receives the credit for that player. For example, the Atlanta Hawks received points for Trae Young and the Dallas Mavericks received points for Luka Dončić.

All data is correct as of 25th June 2025.

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