The 2003 NBA Draft brought the league multiple Hall of Famers, including LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony. It also introduced one of the generation’s most potent shooters in Kyle Korver, who came off the board 52nd overall.
In his four full seasons with the franchise, Korver averaged 10.5 points in 26.9 minutes per game, shooting an elite 41.3 percent from deep on 4.8 attempts. The NBA hadn’t yet made its transition to perimeter-oriented basketball, which made Korver’s presence as a pure shooter more unique than it might seem today.
The Sixers were on the downswing after the Allen Iverson-led NBA Finals push in 2001, but Korver played an integral role nonetheless. He would go on to meticulously work his way up the NBA ladder in future seasons outside Philadelphia. But he got his start with the Sixers.
The 52nd pick seldom yields high-level value for NBA teams. Korver was a flyer, with minimal expectations and little to contribute in terms of NBA athleticism or two-way promise. It was his shooting that unlocked an unexpectedly long career, which is still going strong 16 years later.
For both longevity and production during his Sixers tenure, Korver is a worthy inclusion on this list. In an era defined by basketball’s offensive evolution, Korver cemented himself as a top-tier shooter, gunning around screens and creating offense through constant motion.