Khris Middleton established himself as a solid first-round draft prospect in his first two seasons at Texas A&M. But a down junior campaign during the 2011-12 season caused his draft stock to fall to the Detroit Pistons with the 39th overall pick.
Middleton averaged 14.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 33 games during his sophomore year at A&M and appeared to be destined to be taken in the first round. But a torn meniscus in his right knee limited him during his junior year.
Once he became healthy enough to play, Middleton didn’t return as the same player. As Zach Lowe recently detailed in a profile of Middleton for ESPN, some believe he “played not to get hurt” and his draft stock dropped, as a result. Some teams even began thinking Middleton was “soft” following his injury.
Then-Pistons GM Joe Dumars said:
Detroit picked him 39th in 2012 — nine picks after Middleton and his father, devastated at falling out of the first round, had stopped watching. I didn’t see soft. I saw a guy who played at his own pace.
The Thunder were just coming off of an appearance in the NBA Finals during the 2012 NBA Draft and held the 28th overall pick in the first round. According to Lowe, the Thunder were “especially interested” in drafting Middleton but ultimately went with Perry Jones III out of Baylor.
Of course, Middleton earned his first trip to the NBA All-Star Game this season. But his path to becoming the second-leading scorer for the Milwaukee Bucks has been filled with plenty of twists and turns, including a benching in December for lackluster effort.
It would have been hard to predict that Middleton would eventually end up an All-Star. But the seven-year veteran worked hard and established himself as a valuable player in the league to earn his place in the league.
Hindsight is always 20/20, so the Thunder would likely re-do the draft that year if they could, considering Jones is out of the NBA now. But Jones seemed to be a safe choice for a team that deep into the first round as Jones was once thought to be a lottery pick that year.
Middleton is averaging 17.1 points and 5.8 rebounds this season.
