Five Worst NBA Players of All Time That Did Not Deserve a Draft Pick

The NBA is undoubtedly one of the toughest leagues to break into. Every year, the franchises pick the world’s 60 best prospects out of the hundreds of thousands of players that harbour an NBA dream. Still, is it safe to assume that the chosen ones are always the best and that they never fail? Turns out, no!

There have been many NBA top picks that later proved to be hollow talents. Even the most experienced scouts and front office decision-makers get it wrong at times. Here’s a look at the five worst NBA players of all time from the (non-exhaustive) pool of many players. 

#5 Kwame Brown

Many readers may disagree, since he played in the NBA for 11 seasons and with seven different teams, but he was a case of tragedy. An accidental overall first pick, Kwame Brown completely shattered the confidence that Michael Jordan put in him.

MJ was behind his selection, and the GOAT ignored the talents of legendary Pau Gasol or even Jason Richardson to select Kwame. Surprisingly, Air Jordan again showed trust in Kwame when he brought him to the Hornets in 2011 (traded the following year). To this day, MJ’s critics mention these decisions as his worst ever. Also, Kwame faired equally bad with the Lakers alongside Kobe Bryant.

#4 Anthony Bennett

Another overall first pick, Anthony Bennett was the first Canadian ever to get a top selection. But none had imagined that this 6’8” power forward will last just four years in the NBA.

In his sophomore year, Anthony was traded to the Timberwolves, where he registered another failed season. In 2014-15, he could score in double-digits in only 8/57 games and averaged 5.2 points.

After a lot of struggles, the Timberwolves finally found a taker for him in his own country’s team, the Toronto Raptors. However, he was plagued by injuries that entire season and played just 19 games. His career came to an end in 2017 with the Nets.

#3 Rafael Araujo

Raptors fans will understand the problems that this name brought to them. The Raptors organization found Araujo to be a greater talent than Andre Iguodala and signed him as an 8th overall pick to join a team led by Vince Carter.

That turned out to be a forgetful season for the franchise that lost Vince to New Jersey Nets and also saw a bust in Rafael. The Brazilian lacked any and every athletic capacity required to stay in the league and eventually lost all his contracts.

#2 Nikoloz Tshkitishvili

The 7-footer competed for four different teams in the 172 odd games that he played in the NBA. In all these games, he could start only 16 times, and that too in his over-hyped rookie year with the Denver Nuggets.

The Georgian forward-center could never touch the 4-point average mark in any of the four seasons and proved to be a failed overall fifth pick.

#1 Keith Closs

If Nikoloz was tall and hyped, Closs was taller and infamous. He played three seasons for the Clippers, 130 games, and averaged just 3.9 ppg, 2.9 rebs, and 0.3 assists. But more than the failure on the court, he was popular for his notorious episodes off it. Multiple reports suggested his involvement in clashes with Clippers coaches, and he could never really become a fan favorite.

As mentioned earlier, this was not an exhaustive list. Several other names like Sun Yue (Lakers), Javaris Crittenton (Wizards), etc also deserve a mention.

Also, this list mostly included players from the past 25 years. The 70+ years of NBA history saw many such bubbles that burst when pitted against heavy competition.

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