Sixers Lead NBA In Undrafted Players

The vast majority of teams in the NBA have at least one undrafted player, though most of them aren’t integral parts of the roster. Still, they can sometimes turn out to be highly productive in the NBA, as Wesley Matthews and Timofey Mozgov demonstrate. The lack of a draft pedigree didn’t hurt Matthews, who signed for the max with Dallas this past summer, and it probably won’t hinder Mozgov’s earning power as he shoots for a similar deal in free agency next summer.

Carrying an undrafted player into the regular season usually comes with fairly low risk and low reward, but when it works out, a team can end up with a steal. That’s one of the many trial-and-error propositions the Sixers are banking on amid their radical rebuild. They lead the NBA in undrafted players by a fairly wide margin, with six. The Hornets and Knicks are the only other teams with more than three.

One of those undrafted Sixers, Robert Covington, has already proven a commodity, having started 49 times last season while nailing 37.4% of his 3-point attempts. Phil Pressey and Hollis Thompson have also made strong cases that they belong in the NBA, and while it’s early, rookie T.J. McConnell is making teams regret passing on him in this year’s draft.

The list below includes every undrafted player and categorizes teams by the number of undrafted players they have on their rosters:

Six undrafted players:

Four undrafted players:

Three undrafted players:

Two undrafted players:

One undrafted player:

No undrafted players:

  • Celtics
  • Nuggets
  • Rockets
  • Raptors
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