History proves there is talent among the vast sea of undrafted players in NBA Summer League

Serious NBA fans realize that most of the NBA Summer League rosters are comprised of players that were undrafted in NBA Drafts of years’ past. That fact turns off a certain segment of NBA basketball fans who don’t necessarily enjoy watching a bunch of players compete that will never sniff an NBA roster. I understand it. To each his own.

Although, if you ask me, there’s a whole lot of fun to be had in the curiosity and surprise of the relative unknown. You would think that the discovery of the basketball talent that hasn’t yet been fully realized is something that would be exciting to follow and witness. The proud feeling you have when your favorite team unearths and then develops a once lesser-known player into an NBA contributor when other teams overlooked him — that’s fandom at it’s best.

There are tons of undrafted players scattered along the NBA landscape and quite a lot, in fact, develop into rotation-level players. Sure, the Pistons might not have an undrafted player on their current 2018 Summer League roster that goes on to have a decent NBA career. Or, instead, they could have a legitimate NBA player on their team. Or they could realize that a player on a different team is someone that they see something in and grab them.

Simply put, there’s some talent to be found in the pool of the undrafted. For brevity’s sake, let’s look at undrafted players from the draft years of 2013 to 2017.

2013 DRAFT

Up to now, 22 players eligible from the 2013 NBA Draft that were undrafted have played NBA regular season basketball.

The most notable are:

Robert Covington, Seth Curry, Ian Clark, Dewayne Dedmon, Troy Daniels, Daniel Theis (2017-18 made NBA debut), Matthew Dellavedova, Rodney McGruder (2016-17 made NBA debut)

For reference, eight players drafted in the second round of the 2013 NBA Draft have not played a single second of NBA regular season basketball.

2014 DRAFT

Up to now, 30 players eligible from the 2014 NBA Draft that were undrafted have played NBA regular season basketball.

The most notable are:

Tyler Johnson, Tarik Black, Sean Kilpatrick, Langston Galloway, Eric Moreland, Khem Birch (2017-18 made NBA debut)

For reference, seven players drafted in the second round of the 2014 Draft have not played a single second of NBA regular season basketball.

2015 DRAFT

Up to now, 19 players eligible from the 2015 NBA Draft that were undrafted have played NBA regular season basketball.

The most notable are:

Royce O’Neale (2017-18 made NBA debut), T.J. McConnell, Quinn Cook (2017-18 made NBA debut), Treveon Graham, Alan Williams

For reference, 15 (15!) players drafted in the second round of the 2015 NBA draft have not played a single second of NBA regular season basketball.

2016 DRAFT

Up to now, 34 players eligible from the 2016 NBA Draft that were undrafted have played NBA regular season basketball.

The most notable are:

Fred VanVleet, Yogi Ferrell, Bryn Forbes, Dorian Finney-Smith, Wayne Selden Jr., Derrick Jones Jr., David Nwaba, Damion Lee (2017-18 made debut)

For reference, six players drafted in the second round of the 2016 NBA Draft have not played a single second of NBA regular season basketball.

2017 DRAFT

Up to now, 27 players eligible from the 2017 NBA Draft that were undrafted have played NBA regular season basketball.

The most notable are:

Kobi Simmons, Johnathan Motley, and more will likely emerge in coming years

For reference, 10 players drafted in the second round of the 2017 NBA Draft have not played a single second of NBA regular season basketball (although it’s still very early)

Sources: NBA Draft Wikipedia, NBA.com

A few more undrafted NBA players:

Avery Johnson, David Wesley, Darrell Armstrong, John Starks, Wesley Matthews, Bruce Bowen, Jose Calderon, Ben Wallace.

Detroit Pistons Summer League starts tonight at 7PM EST!