Biggest Draft busts in NBA history

On Wednesday night in Brooklyn life long dreams will become reality as the next generation of NBA players will be announced from Barclay’s Center. The NBA Draft will mark the beginning of what, for some, will be long and fruitful careers in the league, but for others may be the start of a downward path of disappointment and disillusion.

The making of a bust

There is no way to predict who will succeed and who will succumb to the pressures of the NBA. There is a lot more that goes into excelling at the top level than just being good at basketball. Some will make it, others will fade into oblivion.

There are many factors that make a bust a bust. Obviously the higher you are picked the higher the expectation. A lot of times it’s not just when a player was picked, but who was picked before them, or after them. You are forever tied to the draft class you are selected from, and the comparisons are inevitable.

Busts are unavoidable. No matter how much presidents and GMs try to set their team, and their selection up for success, there are times when it simply doesn’t work out. There are factors that come into play, some controllable, and some not. Sometimes it’s injuries that plague a player throughout his career, sometimes the problem isn’t as much physical as it is mental. It’s not easy to make it in the league, and once you are there, it’s not easy to stay in the league. For these players it’s a mix of an unfortunate set of circumstances that landed them in basketball, and draft infamy as the biggest busts of all time.

Kwame Brown

In the height of the high school to NBA era stood Kwame Brown who was projected to lead the next generation of big men. He was an All-American who had the body and the skill set to translate at the next level.

On top of that, he won the trust of the greatest player to ever step on a basketball court. Michael Jordan was the executive of the Washington Wizards in the 2001 Draft, and he took Kwame with the No. 1 overall pick. That was the first decision he made as Director of Basketball Operations, and it was a flop.

Kwame played just four seasons in Washington, and averaged double digit points only one of those years. He would go on to play 13 seasons in the NBA, but spent most of that time as a back up, and never had another 10+ ppg season. He averaged 6.6 points, 5.5 rebound and 0.9 assists over the course of his career.

Sam Bowie

It’s tough to say is Sam Bowie would have been considered an all-time bust if the circumstances surrounding his selection were different. Unfortunately for him, he was drafted second in the 1984 Draft, one spot ahead of Michael Jordan.

He was a second team All-American in college twice, and was touted as one of the best big men in the country coming out of the University of Kentucky. The Portland Trail Blazers needed a big man, and with Akeem Olajuwan going No. 1 to the Houston Rockets, Sam Bowie was the next best option.

It was hard to disagree with the pick after his first year in the league. Bowie was named to the All-Rookie First Team with Olajuwan, Jordan, Charles Barkley and Sam Perkins. Unfortunately injuries would hamper the big man’s career. In his third season in the league things started to go south as he started to deal with foot and leg injuries. They followed him for the remainder of his career. He played 10 years in the league, and averaged 10.9 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.78 blocks before hanging it up in 1995. His numbers aren’t terrible, and he is far from the worst pick ever, as Charles Barkley would remind you, but anytime you get compared to MJ, that magnifies the argument.

Greg Oden

Oden was another big man taken by Portland, that ultimately had his career cut short because of injuries. The lovable giant from Ohio State looked like he was in his 40s as a freshman in college.

After leading the Buckeyes to the National Championship game in his one and only season in college, Oden entered the draft and was taken No. 1 overall in the 2007 draft, a pick before the Seattle Super Sonics took Kevin Durant. The injury problems started before he could even step foot on the hardwood in a Blazers jersey. He had micro fracture surgery on his right knee in September of 2007 and missed his entire rookie season.

He would debut the next season but left his first official NBA game early because of a foot injury. Despite the injury he played in 61 games that season, but that was the peak of his career in the league. He was on the books with the Blazers until 2012, but didn’t play for them for the final two years of his contract due to injuries. After playing just 82 games (one full NBA season) in five years in Portland he went to Miami in 2013. He would play 23 games for the Heat before going to China and eventually retiring after a career cut short at the hands of countless injuries.

Darko Milicic

Darko is for me, the most complete bust in NBA history. He has it all. He came from an incredible draft class, his foreign background only added to his mystique and hype coming into the league, and the fact that he left basketball to be a fighter is just the cherry on top.

After playing two years of professional ball in Serbia, he was drafted by the reigning Eastern Conference Champion Detroit Pistons in 2003. The Pistons took him second in a draft that included LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade. Milicic was taken No. 2 overall, after the Cleveland Cavaliers selected LeBron James with the top pick. Anthony went third, Bosh fourth and Wade fifth.

Darko was the first of those top five picks to win an NBA title. He did so in his rookie year, but played in just 34 games and averaged 4.7 minutes during that season. He would play three seasons in Detroit, playing no more than 37 games in his time under Larry Brown before being traded to Orlando. He would bounce around the league, playing for four more teams throughout his 12 year career, and averaging 6 points and 4.2 rebounds a game before retiring and becoming a kickboxer for a brief moment in his post basketball life.

Anthony Bennett

This one was tough, because we had to add another No. 1 pick to the list and there were a handful to choose from, but Michael Olawkandi, Joe Smith and Pervis Ellison all had decent starts to their career before falling off, but Anthony Bennett was a disaster from day 1. He earned the honor of being the first Canadian to be drafted No. 1 but didn’t deliver the goods after entering the draft in 2013.

His freshman season was cut short because of a shoulder injury, but the Cavs still took a chance on him with the top pick, but immediately got a glimpse of what was to come. He didn’t score a field goal until his fifth game and missed his first 16 field goals of his career. He was traded to Minnesota after a year in Cleveland in which he averaged 4.2 points and 3 rebounds.

He played a year with the Timberwolves before getting waited by them and joined the Raptors at the beginning of the next season. He played 19 games in Toronto and his NBA story came to an end with the Nets in 2017. He played 151 games over four years, averaged 4.4 points and 3.1 rebounds. He joined Turkish team Fenerbache and ended up winning the Euroleague with them although he averaged 1.2 points and under 1 rebound playing an average of 6 minutes a game. He has played in Isrea and Taiwan since then, and currently is listed as a free agent.