The Miami Heat were sitting pretty in the 2003 NBA draft. They knew one of LeBron James, Darko Miličić, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh or Dwyane Wade would fall to them.
Aside from the Detroit Pistons, who took Miličić at No. 2, every other team in the top five ended up with a Hall of Famer.
Wade had the second-best career of any 2003 draftee, finishing with eight All-NBA nods, three championships and one Finals MVP. He’s pretty safely on the list of the five greatest shooting guards of all time.
Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Vince Carter were all taken with the No. 5 overall pick in the 1990s, but Kevin Love, De’Aaron Fox, Trae Young and DeMarcus Cousins are D-Wade’s closest competition since the turn of the century. None of them even come close to topping him.