Cleveland Cavaliers: 10 best players all-time taken at No. 3 in NBA Draft

Best all-time players taken No. 3 overall: 10. Marques Johnson

Marques Johnson was one of the last UCLA players to play for legendary coach John Wooden, then entered the league in 1977 after dominating in college. Johnson went third overall to the Milwaukee Bucks, a franchise still struggling to recover after the departure of another UCLA Bruin, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, years before. Johnson would go on to arguably be the best player in his draft class (Jack Sikma was pretty good too).

An incredible passer and scorer on the wing, Johnson averaged 20.1 points per game for his career. He was one of the first players to pry open the positional rigidity of the early NBA, and head coach Don Nelson began to use him to initiate the offense even though he wasn’t a point guard; he was now a “point forward.” A devastating injury ended his career early, but he was a five-time All-Star and 3-time All-NBA player.

Best all-time players taken No. 3 overall: 9. Carmelo Anthony

Carmelo Anthony was the third overall pick in the loaded 2003 NBA Draft. Anthony, fresh off leading Syracuse to the national championship, fell to No. 3 when the Detroit Pistons took Serbian big man Darko Milicic second (behind LeBron James at first). Anthony went on to star for the Denver Nuggets.

Anthony later forced his way to the New York Knicks as he watched his draft mates team up in Miami and win a pair of titles. A championship or even a trip to the NBA Finals has eluded Anthony, one of the best pure scorers in NBA history. Most recently he played a role off the bench for the Portland Trail Blazers and he extends his career as long as possible. That career includes 10 All-Star appearances and six All-NBA selections, and Anthony led the league in scoring in 2012-13.