The Portland Trail Blazers drafted Arvydas Sabonis, an incredibly talented young big man, with the 24th pick of the first round in the 1986 NBA Draft. The Blazers had just come off a 40-42 season, and had a young Clyde Drexler, as well as Jerome Kersey and Terry Porter, all aged 23 and under.
The future of the team was incredibly bright. Unfortunately, Sabonis wouldn’t actually join the team until the 1995-96 season (at 31 years of age). We all know what happened prior to his arrival, an incredible 6 year run from 1987-88 to 1992-93 that included five 50 win seasons, a 63 win team, and two NBA Finals appearances.