Worst NBA Draft Mistakes Of All Time
Picture NBA commissioner Adam Silver stationed in front of a mirror, rehearsing the names of top-grade future league draftees.
“Zaccharie Risacher,” he might say. Or maybe “Tidjane Salaun.”
Silver even could practice his domestic pronunciations. Remember, it’s “Knecht” like “connect.”
Some fan bases will hope Silver hadn’t bothered walking to the podium tonight during the first round of the NBA Draft in New York.
Make no mistake (hear that, front offices?), the event holds its share of misses. Today, we recall five notable blunders:
Sam Bowie, No. 2 Portland Trail Blazers, 1984
Evaluating draft talent often equates to the crapshoot of playing the ponies.
Just ask Bowie, now a harness racing owner in Kentucky, his old collegiate home.
Injuries frequently hindered the center drafted one spot ahead of Michael Jordan, especially in Portland, where Bowie played in just 25 games over his final three seasons. He missed the entire 1987–88 campaign with a leg injury.
Bowie averaged 15 points and 8.1 rebounds in 71 games with the Nets in 1991–92 and logged a career-best 79 games one season later. He retired in 1995 after two seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Michael Olowokandi, No. 1 Los Angeles Clippers, 1998
Late Clippers general manager Elgin Baylor uttered some version of “I Want Olowokandi” with LA on the clock 26 summers ago.
“Don’t Look Back,” a musical statement from a previous era, ultimately proved more fitting. Why isn’t Boston in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, by the way?
Olowokandi capped a less-than-stellar NBA career with the Celtics in 2006–07 after five subpar seasons with the Clippers and three more in Minnesota. The 7-footer from Nigeria only averaged double-figure scoring twice in his final two seasons in LA and logged fewer than 65 games seven times.
LA missed out on future Hall of Famers Vince Carter, Dirk Nowitzki, and California native Paul Pierce in lieu of “The Kandi Man.”
Kwame Brown, No. 1 Washington Wizards, 2001
A second mention of Michael Jordan in a story about woeful NBA drafting? At least this one is sorrier than the first, as Jordan was the executive in charge of taking Brown, a Georgia high school standout.
Brown stuck around the NBA for 12 seasons and 600+ games, but his four seasons in Washington surely didn’t warrant four more. One bright spot? Brown’s 7.7 points per game with the Wizards were 1.1 more than his career average.
He started just 94 of his 253 games in Washington and just over 30 percent of his games overall.
Greg Oden, No. 1 Portland Trail Blazers, 2007
Boy, does the number 23 taunt Blazer nation. It was that many years after taking Bowie (and missing on a certain Airness) that Portland picked Oden, another big man who proved to be oft-injured.
Forget that Kevin Durant, Al Horford, Mike Conley, and Marc Gasol rounded out this draft’s top five—it’s haunting, sure—but the toll knee troubles took on Oden’s potential arguably looms as the bigger regret.
The former Ohio State standout averaged 8.0 points and 6.2 rebounds while playing a mere 105 games in three seasons. Knee injuries cost Oden four full seasons beyond that before he retired in 2014, still in his mid-20s.
Anthony Bennett, No. 1 Cleveland Cavaliers, 2013
This one adds up to one of the top misses of all time, thanks in great part to Bennett’s stat line.
Bennett averaged a meager (putting in mildly) 4.4 points and 3.1 rebounds in 151 games over four seasons with as many teams.
If there’s a silver lining for the Cavs, it was their foresight to trade Bennett to Minnesota following his rookie season.