For all the talk about constant star player movement across the NBA, it’s worth noting that the last three NBA champions were among the most organically built ones in recent league history, with their core players spending their entire careers with one team.
To assess how common it is for teams to build through the draft (like modern-day Celtics, Nuggets and Warriors did) and which ones have pursued this approach more extensively, we analyzed the minutes played by each player on every franchise this century, focusing on each team’s draftees.
Unsurprisingly, a small-market franchise tops the list for the largest share of minutes played by its own draftees. More surprisingly, another small-market club ranks last in the ranking.