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Every sports league that features an annual draft gives teams the chance to scoop up prospects that can to make a major impact after taking their talents to the professional level.
However, the nature of basketball means there aren’t many events in that category with the potential to be as consequential as the NBA Draft.
NBA teams can only have 15 players on their roster at any given time, and their starting five is usually going to be doing the bulk of the work over the course of a typical game. As a result, it’s hard to think of many sports where the addition of a single individual can lead to them making the kind of mark that allows a team to reverse their fortunes virtually overnight.
There are plenty of notable examples you can turn to in order to highlight that reality.
LeBron James helped the Cavaliers do exactly that after Cleveland selected the Kid From Akron with the top overall pick in 2003, and you have to imagine the Trail Blazers regret passing on the chance to pick Michael Jordan with the second pick in 1984 before the Bulls did exactly that with the third.
LeBron somehow managed to exceed the wildly lofty expectations that surrounded him coming out of high school, but there are also plenty of players who’ve failed to live up to similar amounts of hype en route to joining a fairly unenviable club consisting of the notable NBA Draft “busts” whose transition left plenty to be desired.
That group is home to plenty of members who are largely remembered by basketball fans for all of the wrong reasons—including one man who arguably stands above the rest.
Who is the biggest bust in the history of the NBA Draft?
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NBA Draft busts can fall into a few different categories—including plenty of guys burdened with the dreaded “What If?” label thanks to careers that were derailed by the injuries that squashed their potential.
It’s hard to think of a more notable example than Greg Oden, who was selected by Portland at No. 1 in 2007 but was hobbled by the lower body issues that plagued him until (and after) his time in the NBA came to an end in 2014.
Fellow top overall picks including Pervis Ellison and Anthony Bennett grappled with similar issues (although a lack of commitment played a role in the latter’s downfall), and it’s also hard to ignore the motorcycle accident that brought Jay Williams’ career to a premature end.
Zion Williamson is also shaping up to join that particular faction, but as was the case with Bennett, you could also point to some off-the-court issues as a culprit—a term that could also be used to describe the substance abuse issues that caused Chris Washburn to burn out after being selected by the Warriors with the third pick in 1986.
However, there are also plenty of guys who simply didn’t have what it takes to hang with the best players on the planet after hearing their names called in the NBA Draft.
That describes the issues faced by top overall picks like LaRue Martin (1972), Michael Olowokandi (1998), and Kwame Brown (2001). It was also the case with the man I’d argue is the biggest bust in the history of the NBA Draft: Darko Milicic, who would’ve gone at No. 1 in 2003 if not for that meddling LeBron James.
You could certainly make a similar case for Sam Bowie, who was the man Portland selected above His Airness in the aforementioned draft in 1984. However, I’d give the edge to the 7-foot Serbian who was picked by the Pistons at No. 2 when you take a closer look at how they each fared in the league.
Milicic had trouble finding a consistent home over the course of a career where he logged 468 games for six different franchises (although his stint with the Celtics in his final year saw him appear in a grand total of one game).
Bowie may have disappointed, but he was still able to average 10.9 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game during his time in the league (which spanned 511 games). Milicic, on the other hand, never averaged double-digit points in a single season, and the fact that his average stat line in those categories was 6-4.2-.9 makes it pretty clear who the real winner (or, in this case, loser) really is.
As a result, I think Milicic—who was selected in a Top 5 that included James, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade— has set the low bar for NBA Draft busts.