Oklahoma City Thunder: History of No. 28 picks

Barring trade, the Thunder picks 28th in the NBA Draft on Thursday. Sounds low. But the 28th pick over the years has yielded some decent players. In fact, the Thunder played against four No. 28 picks in the 2012 playoffs alone – Miami’s Norris Cole, San Antonio’s Tony Parker and Tiago Splitter, and Dallas’ Ian Mahinmi.

Here are the No. 28 NBA draft picks in the last 30 years, and how much they played in the NBA.

2011: Norris Cole, Cleveland State. Averaged 19.4 minutes a game as a Heat rookie point guard.

2010: Greivis Vasquez, Maryland. Also played against the Thunder, in the 2011 playoffs, as a backup point guard. Averaged 18.9 minutes over 136 games.

2009: Wayne Ellington, North Carolina. In Minnesota’s rotation all three years, averaging 18.7 minutes a game.

2008: Donte Greene, Syracuse. Four Sacramento seasons, with 82 career starts and 16.8 minutes a game.

2007: Tiago Splitter, Brazil. Came to the NBA two years ago and has averaged 15.6 minutes a game; scored 9.3 points a game this season.

2006: Maurice Ager, Michigan State. Played five seasons, 82 games total, just 6.2 minutes a game.

2005: Ian Mahinmi, France. Came to the NBA in 2007; 2011-12 was his first in a rotation, averaging 18.7 minutes a game as a Dallas center.

2004: Beno Udrih, Italy. Eight-year pro, averaging 23.7 minutes a game, with 234 career starts at point guard.

2003: Leandro Barbosa, Brazil. Career 12.5-point scorer, over nine seasons with Phoenix, Toronto and Indiana.

2002: Dan Dickau, Gonzaga. Lasted six years, averaging 5.8 points and 15.4 minutes a game.

2001: Tony Parker, France. Spurs point guard is headed for the Hall of Fame.

2000: Erick Barkley, St. John’s. Point guard played just 27 NBA games, over two seasons.

1999: Scott Padgett, Kentucky. Eight-year power forward but made just 18 NBA starts and averaged just 12.5 minutes per game.

1998: Corey Benjamin, Oregon State. Played just four seasons but averaged 14.3 minutes and 5.5 points a game.

1997: Keith Booth, Maryland. Played just 45 NBA games.

1996: Priest Lauderdale, Central State. Seven-foot-4 center played just 74 NBA games.