The NBA playoffs have commenced. And you know LeBron and the Cavs will surely meet Curry and the Warriors in the NBA Finals for the third straight year. We’re witnessing a league with little parity, but yet a league with transcendent talent we haven’t seen since the Jordan era Chicago Bulls.
But with all the great play we’ve seen this year, my colleagues and I have been talking about the opposite.
While we keep watching Russ Westbrook put up a new triple-double record and James Harden compete against the Spurs, Warriors and, yes, LeBron, we’re wondering — who are the forgotten players of the NBA? Dare we ask, who are the worst players in NBA history?
And even when you do ask that question, is it even possible to quantify? Only 12-15 players make each team’s NBA roster, and there are only 30 teams. You literally have to be one of the best ballers on the planet to even make it to the NBA — or do you?
Considering a crappy player can get decent playing time on a terrible team, or even a decent player can ride the bench all season on a great team, how do you even compute who the worst players of all-time are?
Whether it’s outrageous contracts and/or blown draft picks, the easiest solution is to look at the player’s value. Below are the worst players in modern NBA history who epically under-performed said value.
In no particular order, the worst basketball players in NBA history:
Josh Helmuth is the editor of Crave Sports.
Photo: Getty
Worst Players In NBA History
-
Mengke Bateer
This is a shot of Bateer playing for a team in China in 2011. But before this pic was a terrible and short-lived NBA career.
"Dinosaur" signed with the Nuggets in 2001 and scored 5.1 points per game over 27 contests. He then signed with the Spurs the next season where he was on the championship roster, but only scored 9 points ... all season. He scored 8 points for Toronto the following year before heading back to China. He finished his career with more fouls than points. Bateer made over $1 million for these NBA accomplishments.
-
Jon Koncak
Jon "Contract" made an infamous -- borderline notorious -- career for getting filthy rich off a less than mediocre career.
Contract was taken 5th overall in the '85 Draft ahead of Chris Mullin, Karl Malone and Joe Dumars. He then went on to have an 11-year career in which he averaged 4.5 points per game and 4.9 boards and ... $17.6 million in salary. Jon, you can thank Jonathan Goede from Center High School (Kansas City) for teaching you everything you know 😉
-
Kwame Brown
Kwame was taken 1st overall in the 2001 Draft ahead of Pau Gasol and Tony Parker. Although he managed to stay in the league for 12 years, he averaged just 6 points and 5 rebounds for his career for seven different teams, yet made a whopping $64 million. Unreal.
-
Anthony Bennett
Even casual NBA fans like myself were stunned to see Cleveland take Bennett as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft. He was literally a bust over night. Cleveland shipped him to Minnesota the very next season after he put up just 4.2 ppg, playing just 12 minutes per contest. Now he's with his fourth team in four years, still averaging just 5 points and 3 boards -- making Bennett easily one of the worst No. 1 picks in history. And of course, he's still made $15 million.
-
Oliver Miller
Miller Time! ... No, not Reggie, but OLIVER, was a first round pick in the 90s who stuck around for a decade, despite the fact he averaged just 2 points and 2 rebounds per game for his career, and at one point, ballooned to an astounding 375 pounds.
-
LaRue Martin
Martin was the N0. 1 pick of the 1972 draft and was taken ahead of guys like Bob McAdoo and Julius Erving. But the seven-footer quickly became an all-time bust for Portland (just the first of a long list that includes Sam Bowie and Greg Oden) as he shot just 41.6 percent from the field, terrible for a center, and only averaged 5 points, 5 boards and .5 blocks per game.
He was out of the league after just four years and according to his Wikipedia page, now works for UPS.
-
Nikoloz Tskitishvili
How desperate were the Denver Nuggets to land the next Dirk Nowitzki? They took this guy you see here at No. 5 overall in the 2002 NBA Draft ... without watching him play.
At least that's the rumor. And it's not hard to believe considering the Georgian (country, not the state) lasted just 6 years in the NBA, averaging just 3 points and 2 rebounds per game. At least he walked away with $9 million.
-
Darko Milicic
Oh, Darko, the guy everyone lists atop their biggest draft busts -- taken 2nd overall in the 2003 NBA Draft, the only player selected before him was LeBron, meaning that the Pistons chose Darko over Carmelo, Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade. Was the Serbian worth it??!! You know the answer. He went on to average 6 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist over a 12-year career with 6 teams, making an unbelievable $52 million. Now he's trying kick-boxing.
-
Michael Ruffin
Ruffin was a 2nd round pick in 1999, but how many players do you know who averaged more career fouls than points (2.3 to 1.7) -- well, aside from the aforementioned Bateer, NOT MANY!
Ruffin still made $9 million over a ten year career.
-
Brian Scalabrine
The red-head everyone loves to hate on, "White Mamba" AKA "Veal Scalabrine" AKA "The Ginger Ninja" some how managed to stay in the NBA for 11 seasons, win a championship with the 2008 Boston Celtics, and make $20 million in salary, all while just averaging 3.1 points and 2 rebounds per game.
