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Your Hornets questions: Kemba Walker trade? Draft deception? Mitch Kupchak style? | Charlotte Observer

The draft is huge in building an NBA contender. And holding the No. 1 pick could be a bigger deal (because you start only five players in basketball) than in any of the other three major-league team sports.

However, here’s some data, via the basketball-reference.com, that I found mind-blowing:

Since 1950, only nine players chosen with the No. 1 overall pick have gone on to win the NBA championship with that franchise. Obviously, there are some all-timers on that list, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tim Duncan and LeBron James. But I would have guessed the number would be higher.