Getty Image / Cooper Neill
Greg Oden was supposed to be the next great center. The first-overall pick of the 2007 NBA Draft has been a prodigy for quite some time, and was even selected ahead of a highly-regarded Kevin Durant by the Portland Trail Blazers.
But, Oden’s career famously was destroyed by injuries, significantly limiting his career earnings in an era where NBA salaries boomed. To this day, the former Ohio State Buckeye is bitter about the money that players that were never as good as he would’ve been made.
Greg Oden’s career never really got off the ground. He didn’t play at all in his true rookie year due to a knee injury, and had flashes of greatness with a few more injuries to knees or feet mixed in. He ultimately spent seven seasons, only appearing in three, in the NBA, finishing his career with the Miami Heat in 2013-2014. He finished with career averages of 8.0 points per game and 6.2 rebounds per game in just under 20 minutes per game. Honestly, he was a pretty productive player when he played. Had he have stayed healthy, there was no reason that he couldn’t have become the dominant two-way force that people thought he’d be.
Oden only made $24 million from his NBA career. When you consider that number compared to the $400 million Kevin Durant has made, it’s got to hurt. But, he didn’t even have to be as good as one of the true great in Durant to make a ton more money. Mediocre players like Timofey Mozgov made a lot more than Oden did too.
Mozgov famously signed a 4-year, $64 million deal with the Lakers during a crazy 2016 offseason. Recently, Oden spoke about how that bothered him a bit.
Greg Oden saw Timofey Mozgov get $64 million from the Lakers in free agency in 2016 and was ready to crash out. 😭
(via: @theOGsShow) pic.twitter.com/DAAdBaMlOd
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) October 2, 2024
“I put it like this, the year I retired was the year Timofey Mozgov, no disrespect, got that $50 mil, and I wanted to kill everybody in the world. I hated life. I was depressed. Like if they threw him 50 mil, I’m like, bro, I need to do is be on the team. That’s $20 (million) easy,”
Oden said.
We feel you, Greg Oden.