When the San Antonio Spurs lost to the Golden State Warriors on Monday, it may have marked the end of Manu Ginobili's Hall of Fame career. If Ginobili does retire, it will also mark the end of what was one of the best draft picks of the last 30 years.
In the late '90s, the San Antonio Spurs accidentally discovered Ginobili, and in 1999, they took the relatively unknown player from Argentina with the 57th pick of the NBA Draft. He eventually came to the NBA for the 2002-03 season, the first of his 15 seasons with the Spurs, a run that included four championships.
Since the NBA Draft was reduced to just two rounds in 1989, no player drafted in the second round has more career Win Shares (WS), a measure of a player's all-around production, than Ginobili (104.2). He is the only second-round pick during this time with more than 100 WS and Rashard Lewis (90.9) is the only other player over 90.
Not bad for a player who came off the bench most of his career.
Diana Yukari/Business Insider