“Teams kept putting me against the best athletes available to see if I could guard them,” Korver said. “By the end, my confidence was just — I don’t know, man.”

Korver watched the draft on television with friends in his dorm room at Creighton. A crew from a local television station also showed up. The night dragged on as players like Matt Bonner (No. 45 to the Chicago Bulls) and Mo Williams (No. 47 to the Jazz) were selected in the second round.

“I think everyone was like, ‘What do we do if he doesn’t get picked?’ ” Korver recalled.

He eventually went 51st to the New Jersey Nets during a commercial break, which meant that he only got the news when the broadcast resumed and he saw his name crawl across the bottom of the screen. But even the pick itself was a misdirection. The Nets sold his rights to the Philadelphia 76ers, who were led by Allen Iverson.

“It ended up being a beautiful thing for me,” Korver said.

Iverson’s ability to draw multiple defenders often created space for Korver on the perimeter, and he emerged as one of the best long-range technicians of his generation.

“The longer I’ve been in the league, the more I realize it’s not so much what number you get picked at but the situation you get drafted into,” Korver said. “Are you a good fit? Do get you that chance? I always tell guys, ‘You have to get that chance, and you have to take advantage of it. Once you do, be on time, work hard, be a good person and don’t do drugs. If you do those things, you can play for a while in this league.’ ”

Most players’ skills decline after 16 seasons, and often years before. Wade, for example, is on his way out, and contenders have not lined up to acquire Anthony from the Houston Rockets after his failed 10-game experiment with them. James, who will turn 34 this month, remains the outlier, a basketball cyborg who is somehow maximizing his physical gifts in N.B.A. middle age.