Which States Produce the Most NBA Draft Picks?

By Chris Lauderback on June 13, 2013 at 6:20 pm
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Before digging in to the numbers, the term "produce" equates to where said prospects were raised or played their high-school hoops between roughly 1976 - 2008. That can get a little muddy in that "raised" would trump "played high school ball" if a kid grew up in one particular state then made his way to a recruit-factory such as Oak Hill Academy for just those final years of high school basketball. 

California, as you'd probably expect, was far and away the #1 NBA draft pick producer with a whopping 87 players, or roughly 13% of the total draft picks during the 15 year study. 

New York is 2nd on the list with 47 players chosen, good for about 6% of the total draft picks, while Texas (42) and Illinois (41) aren't far behind. 

Ohio is tied for 8th, one of six states producing 22 total picks over the 15 year span. Specific to positions, Ohio stacks up like this:

  • Center: 5 total picks from Ohio, tied for 4th-most overall
  • Point Guard: just 2 total picks
  • Small Forward: 4 total picks, tied for 8th-most overall
  • Shooting Guard: 7 total picks, tied for 7th-most overall
  • Power Foward: 4 total picks, tied for 16th-most overall

 

 


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