Watching the NBA Finals always carries a bit of pain for the NBA general managers not directly involved, but it can be especially bitter when the action includes players they could have drafted.

"Everyone has at least a couple [of players they missed out on in the draft] if they've done the job for any time at all," said Wally Walker, who spent 12 seasons as president and GM of the Seattle SuperSonics. "The ones that hurt the most are the ones you had great conviction about and, for whatever reason, ended up not taking them."

And no player prompts more what-ifs, seemingly, than the San Antonio Spurs' Tony Parker. Of the four former GMs willing to discuss the players that make them squirm for not having selected them, three mentioned Parker.

The Spurs selected him 28th in the 2001 draft, the last pick of the first round. He has been part of four championship teams. Only five players taken ahead of him have any championship rings—No. 2 pick Tyson Chandler, No. 3 pick Pau Gasol, No. 4 pick Eddy Curry, No. 6 pick Shane Battier and No. 20 pick Brendan Haywood—and only Gasol can claim being an integral part of more than one title run."Tony Parker was one for me, for sure," Walker said.The SuperSonics selected stretch power forward Vladimir Radmanovic with the 12th pick and point guard Earl Watson with the 39th in '01. Considering they already had an eight-time All-Pro in Gary Payton as their floor general, they certainly weren't the most desperate of the 20 teams that passed on Parker, and they did land a 13-year point guard in Watson.

Walker coveted Parker so much, though, that he tried to pry him away from Spurs GM R.C. Buford the following season.

"We had him in for a workout before the draft and he was terrific in every way," Walker said. "We all had great conviction about him. Could we have taken him at 12? Sure. But we already had Gary."Parker haunts Garry St. Jean as well. St. Jean served as the Golden State Warriors' GM from 1997 to 2004. In 2001, he had two first-round picks, taking shooting guard Jason Richardson fifth and power forward Troy Murphy 14th. He then took point guard Gilbert Arenas at 30, two slots after Parker.St. Jean and Parker share a French heritage, and Parker showed a deep familiarity with St. Jean's roots. St. Jean was smitten, but Parker had a pulled hamstring when he made his visit and couldn't work out.That, combined with Parker being a scrawny 19-year-old and playing a position foreign players had not proved they could handle in the NBA, made it hard to justify taking him in the top half of the draft. "We were all set to take him with that second-round pick," St. Jean said. "I loved him."

So did Larry Riley, who had stints as the GM of the Warriors (2009-12) and as personnel director for the Vancouver Grizzlies ('94-00). In '01, he was an assistant coach with the Dallas Mavericks, who lost out on the chance to take Parker because they traded their first-round pick (No. 22 overall) in a deal made the previous year for guard Courtney Alexander. Thirty-eight games into his rookie season, the Mavs traded Alexander to Washington.

If Riley, now director of scouting for the Warriors, needs anyone to commiserate over draft misses, he can reach out to the team's new head coach, Steve Kerr, who spent three years as the Suns' GM ('07-10).In his first draft, he had two late first-round picks, Nos. 24 and 29, using them on Spain's Rudy Fernandez and small forward Alando Tucker before quickly dealing Fernandez to the Portland Trail Blazers, along with James Jones, for cash. Tucker spent almost his entire career on the Suns' NBA Development League team before being dealt to Minnesota.

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