NBA Draft Re-Do 2007 Edition: Kevin Durant Number 1 Over Greg Oden To Blazers, Marc Gasol, Al Horford, Mike Conley Go Top 5

Oct 22, 2015 11:14 AM EDT
Kevin Durant #35 of the Oklahoma City Thunder
Kevin Durant #35 of the Oklahoma City Thunder defends the ball against Gordon Hayward #20 of the Utah Jazz during the preseason game on October 20, 2015 at EnergySolutions Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah. "

The 2007 NBA draft is one of those that live in infamy because of what happened with the first two overall picks in Kevin Durant and Greg Oden. Oden went number one and dealt with numerous injuries and now is playing basketball overseas, while Durant developed into one of the best players in the league and an MVP winner.

This draft turned out to have a number of quality players in the first and second rounds, including Marc Gasol, Al Horford, Mike Conley, Joakim Noah, Thaddeus Young, Nick Young, Wilson Chandler, Aaron Brooks, Arron Afflalo, Glen Davis and Marco Belinelli. If this draft was done over today, the whole shape of the NBA would be different, as Greg Oden likely would not be drafted and that would have brought Durant to the Blazers.

Oden was a freshman at Ohio State when he was drafted and Durant was also a freshman from texas and they were the first freshmen to be selected with the top two picks in the draft in history. The Blazers felt they had enough players at Durant's position, so they went with the big man instead. Oden's career got off to a rocky start, as he needed microfracture surgery in the preseason.

That surgery put Oden on the path to more procedures and he ended up playing just 82 games overall from 2008 to 2010. Durant went to Seattle (and the team then moved to OKC) and he developed into one of the best scorers in the league. Durant is considered to be one of the best players in the league and he won the MVP award two seasons ago.

If this draft happened again, Durant would go number one to the Portland Trail Blazers, while players like Gasol, Conley, Horford and Noah likely would go soon after that. Gasol is a former defensive player of the year and All-Star player and he likely would have went second to the Supersonics. Conley and Noah as well as Horford all would be in consideration, but with the career Gasol has had, he likely would go next.

Check here for the rundown of picks in the 2007 draft.

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