Examining the Sixers’ History with Top-Six Overall Picks
Monday will either be the best day ever or the worst day ever.
In just four days, we’ll finally know whether it was all worth it.
The Sixers closed the 2024-25 campaign on a 4-29 tear to finish with their worst regular season record since they went 10-72 in 2016, all for the sake of keeping their top-six protected pick. Every draft is different, with this 2025’s in particular being touted as higher caliber than the year previous, and having a crown jewel prospect at the top in Cooper Flagg. Yet, year-over-year different feelings have been attached to each of the individual slots at the top of the draft. No. 1 overall picks are almost always expected to be franchise-defining superstars, while the No. 2 overall spot has at times been viewed as snakebitten, with the selecting team passing up on incredible players far more often than they’d like.
Thus, I decided to look into the Sixers’ history whenever they’ve received a top-six pick and see just how well they draft in each slot:
No. 1 Overall Picks — Markelle Fultz (2017), Ben Simmons (2016), Allen Iverson (1996), Doug Collins (1973)
Four very memorable picks, all for very different reasons.
Allen Iverson is obviously the cream of the crop here, but Doug Collins and even Ben Simmons are far from the worst first overall picks in league history, despite what recent NBA discourse might tell you regarding the latter. Those two combined for seven total All-Star selections in Philadelphia, despite neither becoming the face of the franchise like Iverson was. Markelle Fultz is the only true whiff on the list, and this article would need to be 4,000 words longer to properly explain every reason why that pick didn’t work out.
Unfortunately, the 1986 debacle has to be mentioned, wherein the Sixers traded the first overall pick in the draft to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Roy Hinson and cash. On the rare chance that someone younger than me reads this, Hinson never made an All-Star team in his eight-year career, while Brad Daugherty — the North Carolina center that Cleveland took at No. 1 overall — was selected to five All-Star games in his own eight-year career before injuries cut his NBA playing life short.
That same day, the team dealt 3-time NBA MVP and 1983 Finals MVP Moses Malone, as well as two first-round picks, to the Washington Bullets for Cliff Robinson and Jeff Ruland. Even though the team was coming off a 54-28 campaign in the 1985-86 season, the idea at the time was that Malone might be on his last legs, and that the Sixers needed to get younger to keep competing. Instead, the trio of Hinson, Ruland, and Robinson failed to make an All-Star game in Philadelphia and were all off the team by 1990, while Malone made three more All-Star appearances through 1989 and didn’t retire until the 1995 season.
All that to say, the Sixers don’t have a great history with the first overall pick, as Iverson is really the one that truly worked out to be the perennial franchise cornerstone that most fans expect to get with the top overall pick. Here’s hoping that trend would change with Flagg in town.
No. 2 Overall Picks — Evan Turner (2010), Keith Van Horn (1997, traded to the Nets immediately), Shawn Bradley (1993)
Even more so than the first, second-overall draft picks have not worked out great for the Sixers. I loved watching Evan Turner in college, so I was ultimately more fine with the selection than most fans of the team (granted, I was nine years-old), but given DeMarcus Cousins went just three picks later, while ET was with a new team by 2014, that one was most definitely a miss.
Same for the 7-foot-6 Shawn Bradley, who was infamously selected after Chris Webber and before Penny Hardaway, and is more remembered for his longer run in Dallas than his relatively short tenure Philly. Keith Van Horn found his way back to the Sixers by 2002, but out the gate he was dealt for Jim Jackson, Eric Montross, Anthony Parker, and Tim Thomas after being selected with the second pick.
Can’t say the Sixers’ history of draft-day trades looks stellar heading into Monday night.
No. 3 Overall Picks — Jahlil Okafor (2015), Joel Embiid (2014), Jerry Stackhouse (1995)
The Joel Embiid and Jahlil Okafor picks speak for themselves, but what about Stack? Sure, he wasn’t a franchise-changing talent, but he was an undeniably great scorer who went on to make two All-Star games and play a whopping 18 seasons in the association.
Stackhouse unfortunately can’t be a “hit” for the Sixers considering that the two picks immediately after him were Rasheed Wallace and Kevin Garnett, but he was far the worst top-five pick in his own draft (apologies to Joe Smith), and his 29.8 points per game average in 2001 was only topped by his former teammate in Iverson. Stack was traded to Detroit in 1997 for Theo Ratliff and Aaron McKie, both of whom would play major roles in the Sixers’ 2001 run to the NBA Finals, making this a pretty solid draft pick for the Sixers, even if an all-time great was selected just two spots later.
So the third-overall picks — not a perfect record for the Sixers, but not terrible either.
No. 4 Overall Picks — Luke Jackson (1964)
Luke Jackson made the All-Star team as a rookie and spent all eight of his NBA seasons in Philadelphia, but outside of that, I couldn’t tell you much about him. This is definitely the slot with the smallest data set in Sixers’ history.
No. 5 Overall Picks — Charles Barkley (1984), Darryl Dawkins (1975), Freddie Boyd (1972), Len Chappell (1962), Lee Shaffer (1960), Dick Barnett (1959), Joe Holup (1956), John McConathy (1951)
A lot of names here, most of whom have not stood the test of time, but the ones that stand above the rest are Charles Barkley, Darryl Dawkins, and Dick Barnett (though Barnett achieved his Hall of Fame status outside of the Syracuse/Philadelphia franchise).
The Sixers didn’t achieve much team success with Barkley outside of a conference finals run in his rookie year (after that, they also kept falling just short in the second round). But man, he was one of the most entertaining watches in league history. Truly a one-of–a-kind force in transition and attacking the basket, a very underrated passer historically, and just a frightening blend of athleticism and aggression that opponents were unsure of how to handle. If not for Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon going just ahead of him, 1984 would’ve been remembered as the Charles Barkley draft.
Dawkins never made an All-Star team, but will be remembered for a number of other things, from his never-ending thirst to destroy backboards, to being a part of the Moses Malone trade that brought the Sixers the 1983 title, to having one of the longest nickname pages on all of Basketball Reference.
Safe to say the Sixers have had some worthwhile picks at fifth overall.
No. 6 Overall Picks — Sharone Wright (1994), Hersey Hawkins (1988, via trade), Ben Warley (1961), Connie Dierking (1958), Red Kerr (1954)
Not a lot to take note of here outside of Red Kerr, who played for the 1955 NBA Champion Syracuse Nationals team that accounts for one-third of the franchise’s banners, and Hersey Hawkins, who was an extremely cool player who hopefully does not get lost in the history of the sport.
Hawkins made just one All-Star team in 1990-91, but averaged between 14 to 22 points per game in each of the first seven seasons of his career, and later went on to contribute to some truly great SuperSonics teams in the late 90s. Not to mention, his 1987-88 senior year at Bradley gets my vote as the most underrated great college season of all-time, as Hawkins averaged more than 36.3 points per game for the Braves while shooting 39.4% from three and recording nearly three steals a night.
Additionally, though it wasn’t a pick the Sixers received in the top six, the team of course traded Jrue Holiday to the New Orleans Pelicans for then-No. 6 pick Nerlens Noel in 2013, as well as a pick in the 2014 Draft that the Sixers gradually turned into Dario Saric. Though it seemed like a bounty at the time, it feels like a pretty underwhelming return in exchange for Holiday, who has now been a starter on two different championship teams for Eastern Conference rivals. However, bottoming out with that team the year after was necessary toward landing Embiid in 2014, so it was ultimately the right choice in the end.
Like most NBA franchises, the Sixers have missed on more top-of-the-line picks than one would hope, but have ultimately only had no luck when it comes to picks 2 and 4. And of course, doing all this historical digging only makes it more likely that the pick falls to No. 7 on Monday.
Daniel Olinger is a writer for the Rights To Ricky Sanchez, and author of “The Danny” column, even though he refuses to be called that in person. He can be followed on X @dan_olinger.
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