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20 Absolutely worst NBA players ever
20. Michael Olowokandi
There was a lot of hype surrounding Michael Olowokandi before he was selected first by the Los Angeles Clippers in the 1998 NBA Draft. The “Kandi Man” was seen by some as the next great center in the league. He certainly looked the part, but when it came time to battle the best big men in the world, he was often steamrolled.
The Nigerian, by way of the United Kingdom, continued the Clippers’ long history of poor scouting and wasted top picks during the 2000s. The nine-year veteran peaked with just over 12 points and nine rebounds in 2002-03.
19. Keith Closs
There were some within the Clippers who believed Closs was going to break out after a decent rookie season back in 1997-98. He averaged 4.0 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in limited action. That never came to fruition.
Over the course of his final two seasons, this Central Connecticut State product (that’s a thing) averaged 3.8 points and 2.8 rebounds before bombing out in the Association. In his final NBA season, Closs joined Olowokandi in helping Los Angeles post a 15-67 record. How fun.
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18. Mark Madsen
We children of the 1990s know full well just how much of a larger-than-life figure Madsen was with the Stanford Cardinal. He helped lead the team to four NCAA Tournament births with the Cardinal earning a trip to the Final 4 in 1998 due to some heroics on the big man’s part.
The Los Angeles Lakers hoped that this would translate to the NBA when they selected “Mad Dog” in the first round back in 2000. Despite the success this team was having under Phil Jackson, it never happened. Madsen finished his Lakers career averaging 2.6 points in three seasons. He ended up playing another six seasons with the Timberwolves, averaging 0.4 points in his final two campaigns. Madsen does, however, have the distinction of being the worst basketball player ever to win two NBA titles. There’s that.
17. Lazar Hayward
A four-star recruit, “Money Man” had a brilliant college career at Marquette — earning AP All-American honors in 2010 and leading the program to four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.
Unfortunately for the hapless Minnesota Timberwolves, this success didn’t transfer to the NBA. After being selected with the 30th pick in the 2010 draft, Hayward averaged all of 2.9 points on 35% shooting in parts of three seasons. He played all 72 games. Oh, and the dude was arrested in September of 2021 for attempting to enter Hawaii with a fake negative COVID-19 test. That’s fun.
16. Robert Traylor
There was a ton of hype surrounding Robert “Tractor” Traylor when he entered the league in 1998 after an impressive run at Michigan. However, it wasn’t long before the Milwaukee Bucks realized they made a terrible decision by using the sixth overall pick that year on the big man. Unlike other players on this list, Traylor was mostly healthy during his seven seasons in the NBA. Unfortunately, he was plain bad as he averaged just under five points and four rebounds for his career.
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15. Bismack Biyombo
The hope was that Bismack Biyombo would turn into one of the next great big men in the league when Charlotte made him the seventh overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft. Unfortunately, like many picks by the franchise, it wasn’t long before he was certified draft bust.
Biyombo has gone on to become a solid bench player over a 13-year run in the league that has seen him average a measly five points and four rebounds for his career.
14. DeSagana Diop
Diop somehow found a way to play parts of 11 seasons in the NBA despite averaging a mere 2.0 points and 14 minutes per game. Even at 7-foot, the Senegal native never averaged more than 3.4 rebounds in a single season.
The No. 8 pick of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2002 NBA Draft, there was hope that this big man could help provide some balance for LeBron James. As you can see, that never came to fruition. The likes of Joe Johnson, Zach Randolph, and Gilbert Arenas were all picked after Diop that June. Funny enough, Johnson is back in the NBA.
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13. Hasheem Thabeet
The University of Connecticut has one of the most respected programs in the history of college basketball. However, they have developed quite a few elite prospects that disappointed in the NBA. A top example is the second overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, Hasheem Thabeet.
The 7-foot-3 beast from Tanzania seemed primed to be the next Dikembe Mutombo. Instead, he was a massive fail for the Memphis Grizzlies and averaged just 2.2 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 0.8 blocks during his sad career.
12. Anthony Bennett
The 2013 NBA Draft might have the distinction of being the worst in modern history. Bennett went No. 1 overall to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Busts such as Cody Zeller, Alex Len, Nerlens Noel and Ben McLemore were also top-10 selections. It’s crazy given that two-time league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo went 15th overall.
However, Bennett takes the cake. The former UNLV star averaged 4.4 points and 3.1 rebounds on 39% shooting in parts of four NBA seasons. The good news for Cleveland? He was one of the assets used in the trade for Kevin Love ahead of the 2014-15 season that helped LeBron James lead the organization to its first and only title.
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11. Michael Ruffin
Michael Ruffin, a former second-round pick of the Chicago Bulls somehow found a way to last nine seasons in the NBA despite averaging 1.7 points and shooting 41% from the field. He is one of the worst basketball players ever after finishing his career averaging 0.5 points on 29% shooting with the Portland Trail Blazers in 2008-09. It is a stat line many NBA fans think they could manage if they got a shot in the league.
10 Worst NBA players ever
10. Sun Yue
While Yao Ming helped to put China on the NBA map, he still remains the only impactful player to come out of one of the world’s most populated nations. The Lakers were hoping they might have found a player who could produce when they used a draft pick in 2007 on Sun Yue. However, 10 games in the league was all the team needed to figure out Yue was not going to be worth a roster spot in the NBA. He averaged less than a point in his very short career in the top basketball league in the world.
9. Nikoloz Tskitishvili
If you’re not laughing after watching that video, you’re a drone. Speaking of laughing, we’re pretty sure former Nuggets front office executive Kiki Vandeweghe still isn’t turning that frown upside down after making this Republic of Georgia native the No. 5 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
Tskitishvili averaged all of 3.2 points on 30% shooting in two seasons with Denver before being dealt to the Golden State Warriors. The dude finished his career having averaged 1.7 points over his final two seasons. This makes Tskitishvili one of the worst NBA players ever.
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8. Todd Fuller
The Golden State Warriors decided NC State Todd Fuller was a better prospect than NBA legends Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash in the 1996 NBA Draft. That was obviously an epic mistake by the front office and why they were a laughingstock throughout the 90s. Fuller averaged 4.0 points in 132 games before being traded to the Utah Jazz in his third season. He was so bad he washed out of the league in just five seasons.
7. Mengke Bateer
Considered a legend in China (four-time CBA Player of the Year), Mengke Bateer never even came close to panning out in the NBA. Initially with the Denver Nuggets during training camp in 2002, he was let go in short order. Bateer ended up playing a combined 46 games with the Nuggets, Spurs, and Raptors in his career — averaging 3.4 points and 2.5 rebounds on 39% shooting. Perhaps he’s best known in Association circles for the video embedded above. Check it out.
6. Rafael Araújo
The eighth pick overall of the Toronto Raptors in 2004, a lot of experts thought that this 6-foot-11 big man was going to be the next great thing up north. The idea for then-Raptors front office head Rob Babcock was to team him up with Chris Bosh and Vince Carter to form an elite three.
About that? Rafael Araújo played just two seasons with Toronto — averaging all of 2.9 points and 3.0 rebounds on 41% shooting. That’s impressively bad. What makes things even more damning for Toronto is the fact that three-time NBA champion and NBA Finals MVP Andre Iguodala went one pick after him.
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5. Javaris Crittenton
Former Georgia high school superstar Javaris Crittenton was selected No. 19 overall in the 2007 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Lakers. His is a cautionary tale. Crittenton played only two seasons in the NBA and 22 games with the Lakers. He averaged 5.3 points in stops with three teams. The Georgia Tech product is sadly best known in league circles for confronting then-Washington Wizards teammate Gilbert Arenas with a gun in the locker room. Crittenton would never see the court again.
4. Darko Miličić
Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, and David West. Those were the future NBA stars the Detroit Pistons passed on to take European prospect Darko Milic in the 2003 NBA Draft. If not for LeBron James being in that class, the Serbian might have gone No. 1 overall instead of No. 2.
While Milicic lasted in the league for 10 seasons he next averaged double-digits in points in any season and peaked with 6.1 rebounds in 2007-2008. He is not just the worst pick in Pistons history but one of the worst NBA players of all time.
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3. Adam Morrison
Gonzaga star Adam Morrison seemed like the second coming of Larry Bird when he entered the league in 2006. He was a scoring machine in the college ranks and had a gutsy approach that endeared him to basketball fans. However, none of that transferred over to the next level and he went into an immediate decline from the start as a pro.
His best season in the league was surprisingly his rookie season when he averaged just under 12 points per game. He never came close to that again as he battled injuries and inner turmoil in an NBA career that only lasted three seasons.
2. Cherokee Parks
Cherokee Parks had all the criteria necessary to be at the very least a solid player in the NBA after an impressive run at college basketball powerhouse Duke. Unfortunately, after being the 12th overall pick in the 1995 draft, he became one of the first of a long line of Blue Devil alums that disappointed. However, Parks was worse than most.
He was so bad, that he lasted only one season in Dallas before being traded to the Timberwolves. While he hung around in the league for nine seasons, he peaked at just over seven points and five rebounds a game in his third year in the association. That is why he is among the very worst NBA players of all time.
1. Greg Oden
There was a huge amount of hype surrounding Greg Oden when he entered the NBA out of Ohio State. Despite future Hall-of-Famer Kevin Durant coming out the same year, the Portland Trail Blazers chose to take the seven-footer first overall in the 2007 NBA Draft. It ended up being one of the worst decisions in franchise history.
During his seven seasons in the league, he only played in 105 games after constant knee injuries undercut his career. But when he was on the court he was a decent player, but he didn’t blow the NBA world away by looking like a future superstar. Oden’s career is one of the saddest in league history and why he’s among the worst NBA players ever.
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