Every NBA draft has its busts and steals. Some high draft picks fail to live up to expectations, while others exceed all. Ahead of Day 1 of the 2024 draft, the UNDISPUTED crew tried naming the greatest pick in their estimation. Surprisingly, Skip Bayless glossed over the slew of Hall of Famers, who were low first-round and second-round picks, and named Michael Jordan his choice.

The Chicago Bulls icon was one of the top prospects in the 1984 NBA draft class and was taken third overall. Despite him being a lottery pick, the veteran analyst argued that had teams known how great he’d become, they’d have rumbled to pick him. As a hardcore MJ fan, he said,

“I gotta go with Jordan as the greatest pick ever because I was in the middle of that draft. And now that I look back, he went third overall and it feels like he went 30th overall because of what he became, to me, by far, the greatest player ever. The greatest force of nature we’ve ever seen in any sport as a performer and a leader.”  

Bayless made a great point. The Houston Rockets picked Hakeem Olajuwon with the first overall pick, a no-brainer decision for the franchise. The Portland Trail Blazers passed on Jordan and picked center Sam Bowie. They already had an elite shooting guard in Clyde Drexler and felt that another would be surplus to the requirement.

However, in hindsight, the Rockets and Trail Blazers would gladly pick Jordan if they could redo the draft. Especially Portland, who would’ve traded Drexler had they known how great the Bulls icon would turn out to be. Bayless’ argument has merit, but Jordan might still be far from being considered the greatest draft pick.

Drafted in the second round, Nikola Jokic—notoriety gained via a Taco Bell commercial—has amassed a resume worthy of the Hall of Fame. He may be the greatest pick in NBA draft history—possibly even better than the all-time great player.

The reason behind Bayless’ opinion is his unwavering affection for Jordan. When he sees a chance to show his admiration for the five-time MVP, the analyst goes above and above, even downplaying LeBron James’ historic accomplishments.

In order to support Michael Jordan when he scored 40K points, Bayless undercut the King.LeBron James made NBA history earlier this year when he scored 40,000 points during the regular season. The superstar player for the Los Angeles Lakers is currently the all-time top scorer in the league. But he’s been occupied putting distance between himself and.

Bayless’ baffling disdain for James is inexplicable. Regardless of what the forward achieves, he finds a way to downplay it, usually resorting to his 4-6 Finals record.

Interestingly, James has never directly acknowledged Bayless’ hatred for him, nor has Jordan publicly encouraged the analyst to continue using his name to berate the Lakers superstar. However, that hasn’t deterred Bayless and he’ll likely never stop pitting the duo every opportunity he gets.