8 All-Stars Pacers painfully passed on in NBA Draft in last 20 years
By Joe Lyon
4. Kris Middleton – took Miles Plumlee
We again go to the 2012 NBA draft, where players such as Anthony Davis and Bradley Beal top the board of the hopeful tanking NBA teams. The Pacers are nowhere near the top of the first round and so will have to look for value if they could find it.
They made the decision to draft a center out of Duke in Miles Plumlee rather than Draymond Green (who we talked about before). But a player out of Texas A&M was still available in Kris Middleton. And initially this didn’t look like a mistake, Middleton didn’t look great in Detroit his rookie season and so the Pacers may have seemed justified in their choice.
Unfortunately, Middleton has developed into a certified bucket getter for the Bucks and plays Robin to Giannis’ Batman up in Milwaukee. Together the pair have won an NBA championship together.
Who knows, Middleton may not have turned into the same player he is now without the ability to play alongside a talent such as Giannis who so long. However, it still feels painful to have taken a player in Plumlee that only suited up for one season for the Pacers.