2009 – Blake Griffin (Oklahoma)
We didn’t realize that Blake Griffin would evolve into the high-flying commercial star that he became as a member of the Los Angeles Clippers, but we did know that he was a really good basketball player during his two seasons with the University of Oklahoma. As a highly-touted recruit, Griffin became the first Sooner to make the conference All-Rookie team since Wayman Tisdale in 1983, and in his sophomore season, Griffin swept all six of the national player of the year awards. The Los Angeles Clippers took him with the first overall pick of the 2009 NBA Draft, and after missing his first season in the NBA with a knee injury, Griffin paired up with Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan to create “lob city” in LA. In the early spring of 2018, the Clippers traded Griffin to the Detroit Pistons, only months after signing him to a $173 million contract extension.