Biggest NBA Draft busts in history, ranked

James Wiseman’s career is still young, so maybe he will turn things around and get himself off of this list. There were plenty of other players in consideration for the final spot on the biggest NBA Draft bust lists, including Sam Bowie, Marvin Bagley, Dennis Hopson, and Dragan Bender. We settled on Wiseman, though, because so far in his career, he has encompassed everything that a bust typically is.

Players like Bowie and Hopson certainly qualify as busts, but they actually had decent production when they were on the court, and their bust status is exaggerated because of the studs that were drafted after them. Bender didn’t last long in the NBA, and he wasn’t productive during his time in basketball’s top league, but he was only a number four overall pick. And Bagley can’t rank as a worse bust than Wiseman, considering they have played on the same team in recent seasons and Bagley has stolen a lot of Wiseman’s minutes.

So far in Wiseman’s career, he has already dealt with major injury issues, he has spent a lot of time on the bench or getting benched, and he has played for multiple teams.

The first of those issues, Wiseman’s injury track record, included him missing his entire sophomore season. The Warriors gave up on the center who was supposed to expand their dynasty window and traded him less than three years after he was drafted.

Since, Wiseman has been playing on a Detroit Pistons team that is the worst in the league. On a young rebuilding team, Wiseman was supposed to turn his career around. Instead, he has been planted on the bench behind a plethora of other centers, including Bagley, Isaiah Stewart, and Jalen Duren.

Players develop at different rates, and it is possible that Wiseman can turn his career around. He has already been in the league for four years now, though, and he doesn’t have much to show for it. It is fair to judge players after four years, considering most show at least some signs of development by then. Wiseman hasn’t shown that development. His shot and passing haven’t developed like draft experts thought they would, and that has left him with an outdated skillset that is limited to interior scoring and lacks much defensive talent.

9. Kwame Brown: Washington Wizards, 2001 – No. 1 

When a lot of people hear the name Kwame Brown, they think about the biggest draft bust of all time. While he is certainly up there, he actually may have had a slightly better career than you might remember, although it was still bad. Brown played more games (607) than every other top 10 bust, and he scored more points (4,035) than all but the next player on this list.

Still, those marks leave a lot to be desired from a number one overall pick. Brown was the first-ever high schooler taken with the first pick in the draft, and his failures will forever serve as an example of the risks that come with drafting such a young player. Brown was immature, not ready for the physicality of playing against professionals, and still had some developing to do from a skillset perspective once he entered the league.

The high schooler was hand-picked by Michael Jordan to be the future of the Washington Wizards. His struggles led to Jordan coming out of retirement in an effort to save the team, and even that wasn’t enough, as Washington traded the youngster after only four disappointing seasons.

Brown stuck around the NBA for a little bit after his Washington tenure, but he was never able to find a home. He played for seven teams in total and only had one season where he scored double-digit scoring figures. Because of that, Brown is one of the worst NBA Draft busts ever.

8. Michael Olowokandi: Los Angeles Clippers, 1998 – No. 1

While the Clippers have had some talented players on their roster in recent years, they were viewed as the league’s bottom dwellers for decades. A prime example of their struggles was their drafting of Michael Olowokandi first overall in 1998.

The Clippers knew the risks of drafting The Kandi Man, as he was viewed as a boom or bust project. The Clippers thought the gamble was worth it, but Olowokandi proved them wrong. Olowokandi played his college basketball at Pacific, where he went into school with almost no basketball experience.

By the time he got to the NBA, he was still raw and was going to need a lot of development, but he had the physical traits that made him enticing. Despite playing him heavy minutes early in his career, Olowokandi was never able to develop into a good NBA player. He only had two seasons averaging double-digit scoring for the Clippers, and even though he was a disappointment in Los Angeles, his production dropped off even more once he left the team.

7. Adam Morrison: Charlotte Bobcats, 2006 – No. 3

Adam Morrison is the biggest draft bust ever who was not drafted with one of the first two picks. After a prolific collegiate career at Gonzaga, Morrison was supposed to be a sure thing at the NBA level. That was not the case, as Morrison ended his career with only 28 starts and 1,200 points.

Playing for the Bobcats certainly didn’t help Morrison’s career outlook, as the Charlotte team was putrid for all 10 of the seasons that they went by that name. However, Morrison spent the back half of his four season long career (he missed the entirety of year two with an ACL tear) on a very good Los Angeles Lakers team led by Kobe Bryant. Morrison did manage to secure two championships while in Los Angeles, but no one would argue that he helped in those runs, as he only racked up 13 total minutes of garbage time in the playoffs.

It was ultimately the knee injury that led to Morrison’s downfall, though. His rookie season was actually solid. He finished fourth in Rookie of the Year voting after averaging 11.8 points per game, but he wasn’t the same player after returning from injury. However, knee injuries tend to only sap a player’s athleticism, and Morrison surprisingly struggled with the three-ball at the NBA level despite being a prolific scorer in college.

6. LaRue Martin: Portland Trail Blazers, 1972 – No. 1

Sam Bowie, Greg Oden, and now (potentially) Scoot Henderson have all been bad picks by the Trail Blazers throughout their history. It was LaRue Martin who started the trend of Portland selecting the wrong guy near/at the top of the draft, though.

Martin retired after only four NBA seasons, but his short career can’t be credited to injuries like you might think. Martin just simply failed in the NBA. He averaged 5.4 points per game for his career and only surpassed 15 minutes per game in one season. He never gained head coach Jack McCloskey’s trust, and the team eventually replaced Martin with Bill Walton, a fellow number-one overall pick who was much more talented (but dealt with injuries in his own right).

5. Greg Oden: Portland Trail Blazers, 2007 – No. 1

Greg Oden is perhaps the most notorious NBA Draft bust, but we don’t rank him as the biggest one in league history. Oden’s NBA career was tragic, as he truly had all of the talent in the world. His own body betrayed him, though, as knee and foot injuries robbed us from what could have been a special career.

Oden was good when he was on the court, but he missed the entirety of four of his first six seasons. He only played 105 total games before he was forced to give up his NBA dream, and although he was a capable scorer and rebounder when he was on the court, he also had to play with minute restrictions.

To make matters worse, Oden was just one in a line of many Blazers’ draft picks who failed in the NBA, and Kevin Durant was selected with the pick directly after Portland’s.

4. Hasheem Thabeet: Memphis Grizzlies, 2009 – No. 2 

Hasheem Thabeet was another player who failed miserably despite a bunch of his draft class peers finding success. Blake Griffin was the only player drafted before him, and James Harden, Tyreke Evans, Stephen Curry, DeMar DeRozan, and Jrue Holiday were some of the players taken after him.

The Grizzlies drafted Thabeet because of his defense, and although he could certainly block shots, he never developed offensively. This forced Memphis to trade their former No. 2 pick before his second season was even over, and he was out of the league after five seasons of bench play.

Over that time, Thabeet only averaged 2.2 points per game for a total of 483 points. The big man was 7-foot-3, but he couldn’t even develop into a solid backup in the NBA.

3. Darko Milicic: Detroit Pistons, 2003 – No. 2 

The 2003 NBA Draft is widely regarded as one of the best draft classes ever. That is despite the fact that Darko Milicic followed LeBron James as the second overall pick. Milicic didn’t do much in the NBA, and his status as a bust his enhanced by the fact that Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Kaman were the players taken directly after him.

Milcic was drafted by a good Pistons team that won 50 games the year prior and only had the number two pick from a previous trade. Milicic was supposed to be the piece that would get the team over the hump, and while Detroit did win the championship in the rookie’s first season, it wasn’t because of anything he did on the court.

In fact, Milicic was barely even able to get on the court with other talented bigs including Rasheed Wallace, Ben Wallace, and Mehmet Okur on the same roster as him.

Milicic ended up only seeing 553 minutes of court time and scoring 152 points for the team that drafted him. By the time Detroit moved on from the big man, it was already too late. Milicic already had the bust label, and he was never able to shake it for the rest of his career. Milicic has now gained notoriety for his post-playing career, where he works as a cherry farmer.

2. Jay Williams: Chicago Bulls, 2002 – No. 2

Jay Williams might be the biggest what-if in NBA history. The NBA world got to see Williams for only one year before he was forced to retire. After his rookie season, Williams was involved in a motorcycle crash where his injuries were so severe that he never played in the NBA again.

As a No. 2 pick, Williams had the potential to become an All-Star, but even his rookie season prior to his injury was uninspiring. Williams didn’t score with as much ease as he did in college, which led to him shooting less than 40% from the field. As a player who did show some promise as a rookie and whose career was only cut short because of off-the-court injuries, Williams isn’t your average NBA Draft bust, but his overall lack of production requires him to be on this list.

1. Anthony Bennett: Cleveland Cavaliers, 2013 – No. 1 

The biggest NBA Draft bust ever is none other than Anthony Bennett. Bennett’s selection as the first overall pick in 2013 was a weird one from the beginning. Not only was 2013 viewed as a bad draft class, but no one expected Bennett to be drafted so high. In fact, a lot of people in the draft community didn’t even think Bennett was worthy of a top 10 selection.

Bennett was a tweener who didn’t have a clear translatable skill. His selection at number one was highly scrutinized, and his busting was almost predictable. Still, you expect way more from a first-overall pick. Bennett played four years in the NBA, each one with a different team.

His best season saw him score only 5.2 points per game, and his worst saw him only get 84 minutes of run. Many consider the 2013 NBA Draft to be the worst class this century, and Bennett headlining the class is a big reason why.