The Cost Of Bad Drafting

NBA teams could be, on average, about $90 million “richer” if they were better at picking players.


"With the 1st pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, the Portland Trailblazers select Michael Conley from Fayettville, Arkansas, and Ohio State University.”

This is how former hedge fund manager Philip Maymin, Ph.D., thinks the 2007 NBA Draft should’ve gone. Instead, the Trail Blazers selected Conley’s Buckeye teammate Greg Oden. According to a paper Maymin published in May, in which he measures the cost of bad picks against his model, that decision cost Portland around $7.4 million in “lost wins” for the first three years of Oden’s career. Read more.