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

Best all-time players taken No. 3 overall: 4. Dominique Wilkins

One of the most explosive athletes of all time just happened to have some of the most style of anyone in league history as well. The longtime Atlanta Hawks star was always foiled by Michael Jordan, as were so many of his compatriots, but he did nearly everything but win a championship during his career.

The “Human Highlight Film” was a spectacular dunker, winning the contest twice. He made nine All-Star teams and another seven All-NBA squads, and led the entire league in scoring in 1985-86. Until the end of his career he did it all with the Hawks in Atlanta, scoring in bunches and delighting every crowd he played for. For his career he averaged 24.8 points per game, the 14th-highest number of all time.

Best all-time players taken No. 3 overall: 3. Kevin McHale

Kevin McHale was taken third overall in the 1980 NBA Draft with a pick that originally belonged to the Golden State Warriors. The Boston Celtics had picked up the first overall pick from the Detroit Pistons a year prior, and flipped it to the Warriors for a young center named Robert Parish and the third pick, which they used on Minnesota power forward Kevin McHale.

Parish and McHale would go on to be tentpole stars for a Celtics dynasty over the next decade or more, with Larry Bird leading the way. The loaded Celtics roster was slow to work McHale into his place, and he came off the bench and won two Sixth Man of the Year awards. Then he became the starter and the accolades came pouring in, from seven All-Star nods to six All-Defensive Teams. Three times McHale and the Celtics won the title, the last ones for Boston until the “Big Three” won in 2008.