5 Stars the Sacramento Kings missed drafting by a single pick

2. Damian Lillard

After 12 seasons in the NBA, Damian Lillard is still one of the best guards and three-point shooters in the game. Spending most of his career in Portland, he was a loyal franchise player with eight All-Star selections under his belt. The Kings had a chance to get him. 

In 2012, Sacramento had the fifth overall pick in the draft. Damian Lillard went sixth, right after the Kings selected Thomas Robinson. This might have been almost as bad as passing on Luka Doncic in 2018. 

Robinson only played 51 games with the Kings before being traded to the Houston Rockets in February 2013. He was not a good fit next to the emerging DeMarcus Cousins, and the team simply struggled to find playing time for him. 

After that, Robinson bounced around the NBA for a couple of years before finding his way overseas, where he played for teams in Russia, Turkey, Korea, and China, among others. 

Damian Lillard, meanwhile, is still chasing his first NBA title while averaging 24.3 points, 4.4 rebounds, 7 assists, and 1 steal per game. Despite being 33 already, Lillard is still playing at a very high level, and just imagine where the Kings would be if they had selected him in 2012.