Remembering the 2003 NBA Draft class 20 years later

The 2023 NBA Draft is upon us and so is Victor Wembanyama-mania. 

Wembanyama may ultimately take the league by storm and there is good reason to think the 7-foot-3 Frenchman will develop into a superstar for the San Antonio Spurs. The 2023 draft will always be remembered as the year that Wembanyama entered the NBA — for better or worse — but even the class that brings us the player LeBron James once called an alien may just pale in comparison to the 2003 NBA Draft class.

The class, of course, was highlighted by the aforementioned James — who was dubbed as "The Chosen One" while he was still a high schooler. James went 1:1 to his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers. When he retires, he has a strong case to be known as the greatest basketball player of all-time.

James was far from the only superstar drafted in 2003, though.

Darko Miličić went No. 2 overall. Detroit Pistons fans unanimously want to forget about that pick, especially considering that Carmelo Anthony was drafted by the Denver Nuggets at No. 3 overall. Anthony recently retired as a 10-time NBA All-Star and is considered one of the greatest pure scorers of all-time.

Chris Bosh, who later teamed up with James in Miami to win multiple NBA championships, was taken at No. 4 by the Toronto Raptors. Speaking of those Miami championship teams, Dwayne Wade went directly after Bosh at No. 5 to the Heat.

That's a top five that features four future Hall of Famers – and several other productive NBA players were found in 2003 as well. That list includes Chris Kaman, Kirk Hinrich, Nick Collison, David West, Kendrick Perkins, Luke Walton, Willie Green, James Jones and Kyle Korver.

The 2023 NBA Draft class may have an undeniable superstar in Wembanyama, but 2003 was undoubtedly the GOAT draft class.