Worst Players In NBA History

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
You ever think, man, what if I made it to the NBA? Well, this is probably what it would look like, at least for me. LaRue Martin is considered arguably the biggest bust in NBA history. In the 1972 NBA draft, LaRue Martin was selected first overall by the Portland Trail Blazers over both Hall of Famers Julius Irving and Bob McAdoo. At 6'11, the Blazers figured he'd make a great addition as a center since the team was undergoing a rebuilding phase. Back during his college days at Loyola University, LaRue averaged a double-double of 18 points and an impressive 16 rebounds per game throughout his senior season. He still leaves the school's basketball team at total rebounds today. LaRue shocked the league his rookie season with an extremely disappointing performance, averaging only 4 points per game and 4 rebounds per game. As a first overall pick, both the Blazers and NBA fans had pretty high expectations, yet he failed to have even a decent year. Recognizing LaRue had some maturing to do, his minutes were cut drastically. During a game, LaRue had invited family and friends to watch him play. However, the coach never let him touch the court. LaRue reflected about this moment, stating, It was a tough pill to swallow. I was embarrassed. I had tears in my eyes. Every time I think about it, it haunts me. And LaRue blamed his inability in large part due to his coach Jack McCloskey, who LaRue resented because he wanted Bob McAdoo instead. LaRue even said, Jack wasn't a believer in my ability. He came from Wake Forest in North Carolina. He wanted Bob McAdoo. Hey, Bob was a hell of a player. I know that. Maybe I wasn't the right guy for Jack, so be it. But I never gave him any grief when I was playing for him. I'm not into that. I just kept my mouth shut and did what I was told. Guess it wasn't good enough. Even with Jack gone in the 1974-75 season, LaRue experienced only a slightly better season. He'd finish his NBA career that following year. Only four seasons played as a professional basketball player. Using his bachelor's degree in sociology, he landed the job as a UPS executive and reflects on his NBA days in shame saying, Being a number one draft choice, getting that big zero on your back, you're a marked man. My career was up and down. They call me the worst draft choice in the nation. That bothered me. But I had the opportunity to move on and get into the corporate world, and I moved on ever since. With Anthony Bennett being one of, if not the biggest draft bust in NBA history, injuries and his maturity level stopped him from reaching All-Star status. At 6'8, nearly 250 pounds, Anthony Bennett was a dominating force throughout his early years in basketball. After dominating the high school competition at Finlay Prep, Bennett was picked up at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. His playing time was cut short while he dealt with an array of injuries, and despite this limited time, Bennett was averaging 16 points per game, along with 8 rebounds a game. And what was more impressive was his shooting average, which coasted around 53% while playing forward positions. Later on his freshman year, he was hit with another injury, this one to his shoulder, and his minutes were cut even further, and he only came off the bench on occasion. Despite his limited playing time and experience, he decided to declare for the NBA draft. After only one year in college, and what was the surprise to the league? He was selected first overall by a rebuilding Cavaliers team in 2013 Bennett himself was surprised, and on draft night he said, I'm just surprised at everyone else. I had no idea. When they said my name, that's when I knew. He was an immediate bust. It took him 33 games to score double figures and points. To put that into perspective, almost two thirds of first picks scored that in their first game. And it was the first time in NBA history a first pick had taken nearly three times the amount of time of any other first pick to score double digits. The scoring that game wasn't anything special either. He scored 15 points and grabbed eight boards. Before the Cavaliers took a loss to the Pelicans. Not surprisingly, the Cavaliers traded them over to the Timberwolves just a year later. His performance changed little, if at all. During his second year in the NBA, he was averaging five points per game and three rebounds per game. The Timberwolves bought out the remainder of his contract and waived him. The Raptors looked at Bennett as an opportunity to grow him back into a player some believed he was destined to beat. So the team offered him a one year contract to give him another shot in the league. After not getting much playing time, Bennett requested to play for the D-League team. Being the first, first pick in the history of the game to do so, he'd be picked up one last time by the Brooklyn Nets before leaving the league to play overseas. And after a four season career at the league, Bennett had averaged like four points per game along with three rebounds per game, placing him amongst the league's biggest first pick draft bust of all time. One NBA executive talked about the draft that night saying, I had Bennett ninth on my board before the 2013 NBA draft. I was shocked the Cavs took him a one. But having said that, I'm even more shocked he's out of the league. I didn't think that would ever happen. I said to myself at the time, that's a bad pick, but he'll probably be a solid sixth man or fifth starter. No, that's a bad pick. This dude will be out of the league. Kwame Brown being one of the most hyped up players coming into the NBA draft, his career ended short due to him losing focus and just shutting down during games. While in high school, Kwame Brown was largely considered to be the best high school player in his class. He had to compete against a young Tyson Chandler and Eddie Curry while at Glenn Academy. After leaving his senior year, he had left the school with the all-time record of shots blocked and rebounds. During his senior year, he averaged 20 points per game, 13 rebounds, and 6 blocks per game. After playing in the 2001 McDonald's All-American game and graduating from high school, Kwame opted to not pursue any college offers and instead declared for the 2001 NBA draft. After working out with the Wizards before draft night, it is said that Kwame had told the Wizards head coach Doug Collins, If you draft me, you'll never regret it. The Wizards at the time were under the authority of Michael Jordan, who then decided to draft the young Kwame to the Wizards as their first overall pick in the 2001 draft. Kwame was drastically overhyped in his first season with the Wizards, where he'd only averaged 4 points per game during his rookie season. Despite this, Wizards officials refused to believe their first pick was a bust, and they trained Kwame hard to prepare him for his sophomore season. And while he did improve a bit throughout the next two seasons with the Wizards, it is clear he fell short of all expectations that Jordan and other Wizards officials had for him. During the 2005-2006 season, Kwame was traded to the Lakers in search of more playtime, and the Lakers would give it to him. In the 2006-2007 season, when Phil Jackson decided to place him as the team's starting center, Kwame blew the opportunity epically. With nearly double the playing time he had ever had in his career, Kwame's averages were disappointing to say the least. At this point, the Lakers were beginning to notice that Kwame was seemingly losing focus and at times completely choked on many open shots. Perhaps his worst game he had ever experienced was with 7 turnovers, which was more than his rebounds, he even missed a wide open dunk. Following the game, Lakers fans booed Kwame off the court. After playing for the Lakers, Kwame fell into a spiral of trades to six different teams, where he consistently played worse for every year but one. Kwame eventually retired from the league with the 76ers, with his final averages at one point per game and three rebounds. Many speculate that while on the Wizards, Jordan was known to be very hard on Kwame. Because of this, likely affected his confidence and performance for the rest of his career. However, Kwame dismissed those rumors, stating, I think it was just blown out of proportion. First of all, MJ is way too smart to do anything to me in front of people. I think it was just people who were around. They see him yelling at me or something to think, Oh my god, look how he's treating the kid. People viewed me as a child, but I was fine. I also think the media played a role. Sometimes they won't even put the words that were actually said. Everybody wanted to interview me and do a negative story, because that was the piped the thing to do. If I had something positive going on, they wouldn't write anything. With Javaris Crittenton going from being a true first round pick, finding himself in a huge amount of trouble with authorities, his career in the NBA was cut very short. Javaris was selected in the first round as the Lakers 19th pick in the 2007 NBA draft. After coming out of just a single year with Georgia Tech and a dominating high school career, Javaris managed to only play one year in the league where he averaged five points per game, two rebounds per game, and two assists per game. During a short time, he also jumped around to four different teams while racking up a lot of legal trouble. His biggest controversy in the league took place in the Wizards, where in the locker room he was caught brandishing his pistol at threatening fellow teammate Gilbert Arenas, but also brought some firepower to the locker room. The beef had initiated over gambling that had taken place between the Wizards teammates while traveling by plane. The teammates joked that they would shoot each other with their guns, and by the time they were in the locker room two days later, Arenas asked Javaris which of his foreign loaded guns he liked to get shot by. He responded by showing his own pistol, which was loaded. When the league caught wind of what happened, both players were suspended for the rest of the season. In the aftermath of the incident, Arenas career began to take a dip while Javaris career was practically over with. Javaris was released following the incident, only to be picked up by the Bobcats where he'd be released three weeks later after signing his contract. His locker room hiatus also led to some legal repercussions since his firearm was not even legally purchased. He was charged with an unlawful gun possession that landed him a year probation, and just a few years later without a job in the NBA, Javaris fell into further legal trouble after attempting a drive-by shooting on a man who robbed him. The drive-by was a total failure in that he had shot and accidentally killed a mother of four. In 2011, he faced manslaughter charges, which he pled guilty to, and in 2015, he was sentenced to 23 years in prison, where the rest of his basketball playing days would be limited to the one hour a day outside of the chain nets. With Sun Yue becoming the first Chinese-born player to win a championship ring, he did it while not even suiting up for the team, and he could barely secure a spot on any team that he played for. Sun Yue started this professional career out in China when he signed with the Chinese Basketball Association back in 2002 at just 17 years old. After playing a few years in China, he declared for the 2006 NBA draft, but with Drew, only to declare once again a year later. He was eventually picked in the second round as the Lakers' 40th pick in the 2007 draft. He wouldn't take up his contract until a year later, starting his official NBA career during the 2008-2009 season. He'd make his NBA debut against the Milwaukee Bucks, where with five minutes of play, he scored four points. He'd go on to play nine more regular season games where he averaged less than three minutes a game and less than a point per game. After that, he was sent to the Lakers' D-League affiliate team, where his career was cut short there as well when he suffered an injury, an injury that would cause him to miss out on the remainder of the D-League games that season. When the Lakers made it to the playoffs, the team took some with them, but he was never activated. However, when the team won a championship that year against the Celtics, he was still given a championship ring. He became the first Chinese-born player to win one in the US. While the Lakers were celebrating during the offseason that summer, some was waved by the Lakers. He'd go on to be picked up by the Knicks, only to be waved before the season even started. At 6'9, he was called China's Magic Johnson, but by the time his one-season career with the NBA had ended, he was called the worst ever NBA champion. He ended his career in the NBA with.6 points per game and one personal foul per game. He's since found a lot more success back in China after rejoining the league. He's won two championships there, winning one in 2014 and another in 2015 With James Oncurry being a highly looked at prospect coming out of high school, he only managed to play a few seasons in the league, which ended his professional career early. James Oncurry seemed like he had a lot going on for him early on in his career in high school. Having attended Eastern Alamance High School in his home state of North Carolina, he was averaging 40 points per game, seven rebounds per game, and six assists per game during his senior year. His great numbers forwarded him a spot to play for the Oklahoma State University team, where his numbers were respectable. After three seasons playing college ball, James Oncurry declared for the 2007 NBA draft. Fifty-one picks later, he landed the spot in the Chicago Bulls, who would promptly send him down to the D-League. Despite playing well in the D-League, Bulls would wave him with no hard feelings, writing him a $100,000 check for the mistake. And with his future in the NBA looking dim, James Oncurry looked on to international ball for some luck. And after a short winter search for employment, it seemed the NBA was interested in him again. More specifically, the LA Clippers offered him a 10-day contract during the 2010 season. Finally, James Oncurry would have a chance to prove himself on the court as the dominant high school player that he once was. Facing up against the Celtics during the time gave way for an even greater chance to impress. Well, that may have happened if he had actually gotten any playing time. But instead, he was subbed in during the game's final 3.9 seconds where he guarded Rajon Rondo. During those 3.9 seconds, James Oncurry never once touched the ball, and he has no stats in the NBA.