Cleveland Cavaliers' Number One Overall Draft Picks in the Twenty-First Century
The Cleveland Cavaliers
have held
the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft four times this century (the most of any NBA team):
- In 2014, they drafted Andrew Wiggins.
- In 2013, they drafted Anthony Bennett.
- In 2011, they drafted Kyrie Irving.
- In 2003, they drafted Lebron James.
Bennett was not a success in the NBA as he scored just
658 points during his career. The other three have scored at least 10,000 career points (over fifteen times Bennett's total). Wiggins
never played for the Cavaliers as he and fellow Canadian Bennett were traded two months
after he was drafted.
All three men have the highest career point total of NBA players born in their country of
birth. Irving (over 16,000 career points) was born in Australia and is the only
NBA player born in Australia with over 8,000 career points. Wiggins (over 10,00 career points) was
born in Canada and is the only NBA player born in Canada with over 9,000
career points. What about Irving's current coach Steve Nash (17,387 career points)? While Nash is Canadian, he was born in South Africa. Last year,
James (who was born approximately 40 miles south of Cleveland) surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
for the highest point-total
of all players born in the United States of America.
Irving, Wiggins, and James all made national headlines off the court in 2021 because of their stance toward the COVID-19 vaccine.
Irving refused to take the vaccine, Wiggins
was extremely hesitant to take the vaccine, and James
was mildly hesitant to take the vaccine.