Welcome to the Edge of Sports podcast.

I'm Dave Ziron.

This week is the third and for now, the last part in our basketball butterfly effect series with Hoops

officiano Aria Shirazi.

Now, if this is the first time you've listened to this series, basketball butterfly

effect is when we look at a draft decision and game out how the NBA world as we know it

now would have been dramatically altered if a critical decision

had gone in the other direction. So far, we've looked at the 2003 draft and asked what the

world would be like if the Pistons had taken Carmelo Anthony instead of Darko Milichich. We have looked

at the 1996 draft and asked, what if the Charlotte Hornets had

held on to a future legendary 18-year-old Kobe Bean Bryant instead of trading him to the

Lakers for serviceable center and chain smoker Vlad A. Divots. That guy likes his Sigs, and I'm not

judging. I'm just saying.

And today, we look at what might have been the most iconic draft in history in 1984.

That draft gave us one of the best centers to ever live at number one, Akeem Elijah on.

It gave us a top three all-time power forward in Charles Barkley at the number five pick.

My top three for what it's worth are Duncan Malone and then Barclay.

And at number 16, the league's all-time leader by a mile in assists and steals John Stockton.

But of course, this draft also contained at the number three pick.

Perhaps the greatest NBA player ever live.

Number 23, Michael Jeffrey Jordan.

The great what if in this draft lies in the number two pick.

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