Unveiling the Legacy: How the 2019 NBA Draft Class Redefined Modern Basketball

I remember sitting in a crowded Manila sports bar during the 2019 NBA preseason, watching Zion Williamson’s debut with my cousin who’s been a basketball fanatic since we were kids. The air was thick with the smell of sizzling pork and stale beer, and every screen was tuned to the Pelicans-Jazz game. When Zion went down with that knee injury just a few minutes in, the entire room let out a collective groan that sounded almost personal. My cousin shook his head, took a long sip of his Red Horse beer, and said something in Tagalog that’s stuck with me ever since: "Ganun talaga, sometimes slow, sometimes very fast yung umpisa, hindi natin masabi. Basta, as long as we get those points one point at a time, malaking bagay na yun sa’min." That rough translation—"That’s just how it is, sometimes slow, sometimes very fast the beginning, we can’t really tell. As long as we get those points one point at a time, that’s already a big thing for us"—perfectly captures what I’ve come to understand about the 2019 draft class. Their journey wasn’t about instant glory; it was about accumulating impact gradually, in ways we’re only now fully appreciating five years later.

What makes this draft class so fascinating is how they’ve collectively reshaped basketball’s positional expectations while maintaining distinctly old-school mentalities. Ja Morant’s explosive athleticism makes headlines, but his 27.1 points per game in his third season came from relentless attacking rather than settling for threes. Zion’s 61% field goal percentage in 2020-21 demonstrated efficiency we hadn’t seen from a forward since Barkley. Meanwhile, RJ Barrett’s steady development in New York—averaging 20 points by his third season—showed the value of consistency over flash. These players didn’t follow a single blueprint. Darius Garland evolved from an injury-plagued rookie into an All-Star by mastering the pick-and-roll, while Jordan Poole’s 18.5 points per game off the bench during Golden State’s 2022 championship run proved the value of microwave scorers in today’s game. The 2019 class forced teams to reconsider what a "franchise player" could look like—they weren’t just specialists but multifaceted weapons.

That Manila sports bar memory comes back to me whenever I watch these players navigate their careers. My cousin’s wisdom about accumulating points gradually applies perfectly to how this draft class has built its legacy. Take Matisse Thybulle—he might average only 7.1 points for his career, but his 1.6 steals per game demonstrate how defense remains invaluable. Or Brandon Clarke, whose 63.4% career field goal percentage comes mostly from intelligent cuts and offensive rebounds rather than designed plays. These players understand that impact comes in many forms, something the analytics-driven NBA had started to overlook. When Ja Morant said last year that he studies Allen Iverson and Isiah Thomas tapes, it confirmed what I’d suspected—this generation blends modern athleticism with timeless basketball IQ. They’re not just athletes; they’re students of the game who’ve forced coaches to rethink their offensive systems entirely.

The true revelation of unveiling the legacy of the 2019 NBA draft class goes beyond statistics—it’s about how they’ve made basketball feel personal again. When Zion dominates in the paint with that unique combination of power and grace, or when Ja launches from the free-throw line for another highlight dunk, they’re playing with a joy that’s become increasingly rare in the corporate NBA landscape. I find myself leaning forward during their games in a way I haven’t since the Kobe-Shaq era, because these players understand something fundamental about basketball’s appeal—it’s not just about efficiency, but about creating moments that stick with you long after the game ends. The 2019 class plays with the understanding that while championships define legacies, the day-to-day brilliance is what builds connection with fans across the world, whether in packed American arenas or humid Manila sports bars.

Five years later, that 2019 draft class has given us something more valuable than instant superstars—they’ve provided a masterclass in development and adaptation. Tyler Herro’s 20.7 points per game as a sixth man redefined bench roles, while Keldon Johnson’s transformation into a 22-point scorer after being the 29th pick demonstrated that talent runs deeper than draft position. The class collectively averages approximately 18.3 points per game across its top-15 picks, but numbers only tell part of the story. What matters more is how they’ve made the NBA feel unpredictable again—where a G-League prospect like Terance Mann can drop 39 points in a playoff closeout game, and where the 46th pick (Isaiah Joe) becomes a crucial rotation player for a contender. This unpredictability, this refusal to follow predetermined paths, is what makes me believe we’ll look back at this group as having fundamentally changed how teams approach both player development and roster construction for the next decade.