Skip to main content

The Orlando Magic shocked the NBA world when the team selected Duke’s Paolo Banchero No. 1 overall in the 2022 NBA Draft. The move not only changed the course of NBA history, but it also cost No. 3 overall pick, Jabari Smith, a whole lot of money.

The difference between pick No. 1 in the NBA draft and pick No. 3 is nearly $10 million

The Orlando Magic's Paolo Banchero (L) and Houston Rockets' Jabari Smith (R) with NBA commissioner Adam Silver during the 2022 NBA Draft.
Paolo Banchero (L) and Jabari Smith (R) with NBA commissioner Adam Silver | Both photos by Sarah Stier/Getty Images

The No. 1 pick in any draft affects the entire selection process. It also changes the fates of NBA teams and the players in the draft.

In 2022, the Orlando Magic made the surprising decision to take Duke’s Paolo Banchero No. 1 after the prospect didn’t even work out for the organization. The franchise took Banchero over Gonzaga’s Chet Holmgren and Auburn’s Jabari Smith.

In the days leading up to the draft, Smith seemed the most likely pick at the top. Just two days before the draft, ESPN NBA draft guru Jonathan Goviny reported (h/t Bleacher Report) that “any other scenario,” outside of the Magic taking Smith, “would be a major surprise to league executives.”

That surprise came to fruition on that Thursday night, costing Smith $9.6 million.

The NBA rookie wage scale is set when players come into the league, so the lower a player goes in the draft, the less money they are guaranteed in their first contract. According to Spotrac, the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NBA draft receives a four-year, $49.4 million deal.

Slipping from No. 1 to No. 3 with the Houston Rockets means that Smith will now get $39.8 million in his first four seasons, a difference of $9.6 million.

And Smith isn’t the only player whose unexpected draft drop cost him money. In nearly every NBA mock draft, Purdue guard Jaden Ivey was the consensus No. 4 pick. However, he did not want to go to the Sacramento Kings.

Instead of trading the pick, the Kings simply passed on Ivey and took Iowa’s Keegan Murray. Ivey went next at No. 5 to the Detroit Pistons, but that one-slot drop cost the former Boilermaker $3.3 million.

All contract figures courtesy of Spotrac

Related

NBA Draft: How Many No. 1 Overall Picks Have Come out of Duke?

Best in NBA
Staff Writer, Producer - NFL

Tim Crean

Tim Crean started writing about sports in 2016 and joined Sportscasting in 2021. He excels with his versatile coverage of the NFL and soccer landscape, as well as his expertise breaking down sports media, which stems from his many years downloading podcasts before they were even cool and countless hours spent listening to Mike & The Mad Dog and The Dan Patrick Show, among other programs.

As a longtime self-professed sports junkie who even played DII lacrosse at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York, Tim loves reading about all the latest sports news every day and considers it a dream to write about sports professionally. He’s a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan from Western New York who mistakenly thought, back in the early ’90s, that his team would be in the Super Bowl every year. He started following European soccer — with a Manchester City focus — in the early 2000s after spending far too much time playing FIFA.

When he’s not enjoying a round of golf or coaching youth soccer and flag football, Tim likes reading the work of Bill Simmons, Tony Kornheiser, Chuck Klosterman, and Tom Wolfe.