Luck was no longer on the side of the Boston Celtics in 1996. When the draft came around that June, the Celtics were nearly three years removed from the death of Reggie Lewis, and therefore, their dynasty. These were dark times for the franchise. They’d already lost Len Bias, a potential franchise-changer who, paired with Lewis, would have created a potentially deadly duo to carry on the legacy of the recently departed Big 3.
They were heading into a draft that would eventually come to be known as the best class ever. The 1996 draft featured guys like Allen Iverson, Steve Nash, Ray Allen… and Antoine Walker and Kobe Bryant.