The NBA is a league where talent is given more value than anything else. The teams can afford to be picky when it comes to who they sign up for the team. Players with skills but no fame are often overlooked, and they never get a chance to show their skills on the basketball court.
Many players have the talent but lack an opportunity and end up spending their entire career in obscurity. They never get a chance for people in the league to see them play with some of the best players of all time.
Know the simple number
It is not possible to respond to that question with a simple number. The number of undrafted players depends on team needs, the depth in the position, and other players’ skills.
The NBA draft typically takes place every year in June. However, some players are drafted in later rounds and don’t get signed by an NBA team. Hence, the total number of undrafted players varies from year to year.
When a team has too few players, it is very likely to lose. If you have only one player and they get injured, then you are in big trouble. The same thing happens when a team has too many players. Teams can’t practice enough for every player, and they will not play as well on game day.
The amount of undrafted players that teams need depends on the number of players they have and the availability of these undrafted players. For example, if there are 14 teams with 12 roster spots each, there should be 96 undrafted NBA Players in total.
In the NBA, there are always players who go undrafted
They are skilled and talented, but they don’t have the luck. To improve the game and to show their worth, they need a chance to play. The Undrafted NBA players need to allow more players on the field to see who’s best.
These players must get a chance to display their skillset and prove that they deserve a place in the league.
The numbers in this article show that, on average, 7% of undrafted players are selected to play in the NBA. If we applied this percentage to the number of undrafted players last year, we could estimate how many will make it into the league.
There are three main reasons why undrafted players get overlooked in the draft:
- They lack the elite skills needed for professional basketball.
- can’t afford a top-tier agent to help them showcase their talents.
- They don’t have a college or international team to scout them.
Many talented players don’t get drafted to play in the NBA. For example, in 2017, there were about thirty-four undrafted players who were signed by NBA teams.
Summary
If we compare the number of undrafted players to those who were drafted, it’s clear that there are many more undrafted players than drafted ones. There are so many undrafted players than drafted ones because of the very high bar they have to pass to make it into the NBA league.