Ranking the last 10 Atlanta Hawks first-round picks

3. Dennis Schroder

While Dennis Schroder is no longer an Atlanta Hawk, he remains one of their best first-round draft picks in recent years. Schroder was a really good pick at 17th overall in the 2013 NBA draft. He proved even more valuable when you consider the return he warranted in the trade to the Oklahoma City Thunder that included Carmelo Anthony, Justin Anderson and a 2022 first-round pick.

While this trade doesn’t seem that great on the surface, it freed up cap space for the Hawks in the immediate future, allowed them to take a flyer on Justin Anderson and provided them with a 2022 first-round pick for a guy who didn’t want to be in Atlanta. And while we still don’t know what that 2022 first-round pick might look like, there’s a chance we may have another Adreian Payne for Kevin Huerter situation.

Regardless of the trade return and the value of Schroder at pick 17, Schroder turned out to be a really good player. Just this past season for the Thunder, Schroder averaged 19.0 points, 3.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game according to Basketball-Reference and he is likely going to be the winner of the 2020 Sixth Man of the Year award.