Question: Who was picked in the NBA draft before the player with the highest point average in NBA history?

title: 2017–18 NBA season
text: 2017 -- 18 NBA season League National Basketball Association Sport Basketball Duration October 17, 2017 -- April 11, 2018 April 14 -- May 28, 2018 (Playoffs) May 31 -- June 17, 2018 (Finals) Number of games 82 Number of teams 30 TV partner (s) ABC, TNT, ESPN, NBA TV Draft Top draft pick Markelle Fultz Picked by Philadelphia 76ers Regular season Playoffs Finals NBA seasons ← 2016 -- 17 2018 -- 19 →

title: 2017–18 NBA season
text: 2017 -- 18 NBA season League National Basketball Association Sport Basketball Duration October 17, 2017 -- April 11, 2018 April 14 -- May 28, 2018 (Playoffs) May 31 -- June 17, 2018 (Finals) Number of games 82 Number of teams 30 TV partner (s) ABC, TNT, ESPN, NBA TV Draft Top draft pick Markelle Fultz Picked by Philadelphia 76ers Regular season Top seed Houston Rockets Top scorer James Harden (Houston) Playoffs Finals NBA seasons ← 2016 -- 17 2018 -- 19 →

title: Rik Smits
text: Rik Smits (born August 23, 1966), nicknamed "the Dunking Dutchman", is a Dutch retired professional basketball player who spent his entire career with the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) The center was drafted by the Pacers out of Marist College with the second overall pick in the 1988 NBA draft. An NBA All-Star in 1998, Smits reached the NBA Finals in 2000.

title: Jonas Valančiūnas
text: Jonas Valančiūnas (; born 6 May 1992) is a Lithuanian professional basketball player for the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected by the Toronto Raptors with the fifth overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft.

title: Frank Kudelka
text: Frank Carl Kudelka (June 25, 1925 - May 4, 1993), nicknamed Apples, was an American National Basketball Association (NBA) player. In his first two years at Saint Mary's College of California, Kudelka averaged 18.1 points per game. Once the shotclock was introduced to college basketball in his junior season, Frank averaged 20.4 points per game. He was the nation's fourth leading scorer. As a senior at Saint Mary's, Frank averaged 16.2 points per game. He was also named an All-American basketball player by the Helms Foundation after his senior season. Frank made his NBA debut in the 1949-50 NBA season for the Chicago Stags. In his first NBA season, Frank averaged 6.7 points and 2.0 assists per game. Frank played four seasons in the NBA with the Stags, Washington Capitols, Boston Celtics, Baltimore Bullets and Philadelphia Warriors. In his NBA career, Frank averaged 7.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game.

title: 2016 NBA draft
text: The 2016 NBA draft was held on June 23, 2016, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. It was televised nationally in the U.S. by ESPN, and was live streamed for the first time in NBA draft history by The Vertical. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. The draft lottery took place during the playoffs, on May 17, 2016. This was the first time since the lottery system was introduced in 1985 that all NBA teams that missed out on the playoffs remained in the exact spots they were designated, meaning the 10 - win / 72 - loss Philadelphia 76ers received the No. 1 pick, the Los Angeles Lakers kept the No. 2 pick, the Boston Celtics via the Brooklyn Nets got the No. 3 pick, and everyone else stayed in their same spots based on the regular season standings from the 2015 -- 16 season.

title: 2007 NBA draft
text: Freshman Greg Oden from Ohio State University was drafted first overall by the Portland Trail Blazers, who won the draft lottery. However, he missed the 2007 -- 08 season due to microfracture surgery on his right knee during the pre-season. Another freshman, Kevin Durant, was drafted second overall from the University of Texas by the Seattle SuperSonics, and went on to win the Rookie of the Year Award for the 2007 -- 08 season. Oden and Durant became the first freshmen to be selected with the top two picks in the draft. Al Horford, the son of former NBA player Tito Horford, was drafted third by the Atlanta Hawks. Of the three top picks, Durant and Horford were able to enjoy solid All - Star careers, while Oden was beset by numerous microfracture surgeries on both knees that limited him to only 82 games from 2008 to 2010.

title: Jim Farmer
text: James Hubert Farmer (born September 23, 1964) is a retired American professional basketball player who was drafted by the Dallas Mavericks in the first round (20th pick overall) of the 1987 NBA draft. Farmer, a 6'4" 190 lb small forward, played for the Mavericks, Utah Jazz, Seattle SuperSonics, Philadelphia 76ers, and Denver Nuggets in 5 NBA seasons. His best stint as an NBA player was during the 1990-91 season when he appeared in 25 games for the Nuggets and averaged 10.0 ppg. He played collegiately at the University of Alabama.

title: Desmond Mason
text: Desmond Mason was drafted out of Oklahoma State University by the Seattle SuperSonics with the 17th pick of the 2000 NBA draft. In 2001, he became the first SuperSonics' player in franchise history to win the NBA Slam Dunk Contest. He also finished in second place in the 2003 contest behind Jason Richardson. In 2003, he and Gary Payton were traded to the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for Ray Allen and Ronald Murray. On October 26, 2005, he was traded along with a first-round draft pick in the 2006 NBA draft to the New Orleans Hornets in exchange for Jamaal Magloire. On July 23, 2007, Mason signed a contract with the Bucks after a two-season absence. Initially angry with Bucks general manager Larry Harris for trading him in 2005, Mason said he was happy to be back in Milwaukee.

title: 2002 NBA draft
text: The 2002 NBA draft was held on June 26, 2002, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden. In this draft, National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting 57 amateur college basketball players and other first-time eligible players, such as players from non-North American leagues. The draft was broadcast on TNT at 7:30 PM (EDT). The NBA announced that about 42 college and high school players, and five international players, had filed as early-entry candidates for the draft. The Chicago Bulls and the Golden State Warriors both had a 22.5 percent probability of acquiring the first overall pick, but the Houston Rockets, with an 8.9 percent probability, won the NBA draft lottery on May 19. The Bulls and Warriors were second and third, respectively. As punishment for salary-cap violations during the 2000–01 season, the Minnesota Timberwolves forfeited their first-round draft pick.

title: List of National Basketball Association annual scoring leaders
text: Wilt Chamberlain holds the all - time records for total points scored (4,029) and points per game (50.4) in a season; both records were achieved in the 1961 -- 62 season. He also holds the rookie records for points per game when he averaged 37.6 points in the 1959 -- 60 season. Among active players, Kevin Durant has the highest point total (2,593) and the highest scoring average (32.0) in a season; both were achieved in the 2013 -- 14 season.

title: James Bailey (basketball)
text: James L. Bailey (born May 21, 1957) is a retired American professional basketball player. A 6'9" (2.06 m) forward/center from Rutgers University, he was selected with the 6th pick of the 1979 NBA Draft by the Seattle SuperSonics. Nicknamed "Jammin' James," he spent 9 seasons (1979–1988) in the National Basketball Association (NBA), playing for the Sonics as well as the New Jersey Nets, Houston Rockets, New York Knicks, and Phoenix Suns. He ended his NBA career with 5,246 total points.

title: Cedric Henderson (basketball, born 1965)
text: A 6'8" forward, Henderson played at the University of Georgia during the 1980s and was selected by the Atlanta Hawks in the second round of the 1986 NBA Draft. He split the 1986-87 NBA season with the Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks, averaging 1.4 points and 1.0 rebounds in 8 games.

title: Shandon Anderson
text: Anderson attended Alonzo A. Crim High School in Atlanta, then played basketball at the University of Georgia. He was drafted in the second round (54th overall) of the 1996 NBA draft by the Utah Jazz, and played for the Jazz, the Houston Rockets, the New York Knicks and the Heat. His best season was in 1999–2000, when he averaged 12.3 points per game with the Rockets. His career average is 7.8 points per game.

title: Brian Winters
text: Brian Winters: Winters attended academic and athletic powerhouse Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, New York, graduating in 1970. He then played collegiately with the University of South Carolina and was the 12th pick in the 1974 NBA Draft, taken by the Los Angeles Lakers. He made the NBA All-Rookie Team with the Lakers, and was then traded to the Milwaukee Bucks as part of the trade that brought Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to the Lakers. He had a productive nine-year career that included two appearances in the NBA All-Star Game and playing on six playoffs teams. Winters averaged 16.2 points and 4.1 assists over his career, with his best years coming from 1975 to 1979 when he averaged over 19 points and slightly less than 5 assists per game. His number 32 was retired by the Bucks. In a 2005 interview, Michael Jordan singled out Winters as the best "pure shooter" in history, claiming that "he had the most beautiful stroke of all the people whom [he could] think of."

title: Jeryl Sasser
text: Born in Dallas, Texas, Sasser graduated from Justin F. Kimball High School and played college basketball at Southern Methodist University. He was selected by the Orlando Magic as the 22nd pick in the 2001 NBA Draft. In two seasons for the Magic (his only in the NBA) he averaged 2.5 points per game.

title: Albert Burditt
text: Albert Burditt (born May 15, 1972) is an American basketball player who played for four years at the University of Texas at Austin, before being drafted by the Houston Rockets in the 1994 NBA draft. However, he did not play in the NBA. Burditt played for the Oklahoma City Cavalry of the Continental Basketball Association in the 1994–1995 season, averaging 8.4 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. Burditt played professionally in the CBA and nine other countries.

title: List of National Basketball Association annual scoring leaders
text: At 21 years and 197 days, Durant is the youngest scoring leader in NBA history, averaging 30.1 points in the 2009 -- 10 season. Russell Westbrook led the league with an average of 31.6 points in the 2016 -- 17 season, when he also became the second NBA player to average a triple - double in a season. The most recent champion is James Harden.

title: 2008 NBA draft
text: For the first time in draft history the first three draft picks were all freshmen. The Chicago Bulls used the first overall pick to draft Chicago native Derrick Rose from the University of Memphis, who later went on to win the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, making him the first player to be drafted first overall and to win Rookie of the Year since LeBron James in 2003. The Miami Heat used the second pick to draft Michael Beasley from Kansas State University, and the Minnesota Timberwolves used the third pick to draft O. J. Mayo from University of Southern California. With five players taken in the draft, the University of Kansas tied University of Connecticut (2006) and University of Florida (2007) for the record with the most players selected in the first two rounds of an NBA draft. Another record was set when twelve freshmen were drafted, ten of whom were drafted in the first round. Of the players drafted, 29 are forwards, 19 are guards, and 12 are centers.

title: Kobe Bryant
text: With career averages of 25.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.7 assists, and 1.4 steals per game, he is considered one of the most complete players in NBA history. He was the first player in NBA history to have at least 30,000 career points and 6,000 career assists, and is one of only four players with 25,000 points, 6,000 rebounds and 6,000 assists. Bryant led the NBA in scoring during the 2005 -- 06 and 2006 -- 07 seasons. His 81 - point performance against Toronto in 2006 was the second - highest in NBA history, behind only Chamberlain's 100. He has scored at least 50 points 24 times in his career, which is third in league history behind Jordan (31) and Chamberlain (118); six times Bryant scored at least 60. He was just the third player in NBA history to average 40 points in a calendar month, which he has accomplished four times. Bryant was voted the league MVP in 2008 and led his team to the 2008 NBA Finals as the first seed in the Western Conference. In the 2008 Summer Olympics, he won a gold medal as a member of the U.S. men's basketball team, occasionally referred to as ``The Redeem Team ''. He won another gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics. He led the Lakers to two more championships in 2009 and 2010, winning the Finals MVP award on both occasions.

Answer: Greg Oden