NBA 2013 Draft: 5 Worst No. 1 Picks in NBA History

Greg Oden is famous for never being famous. He is one of the worst No. 1 draft picks in the history of professional sports. (Photo: commons.wikimedia.org)

Each June, intense anticipation grips basketball fans as players and execs gather for the NBA draft. Structurally, the draft consists of two rounds featuring 30 picks each, so it’s an exclusive affair and it’s an honor merely to be selected. Obviously, energetic speculation about who the first overall pick will be runs rampant, although be the time the draft is held, the identity of that player is typically secure.

It’s no surprise that the first overall pick goes on to stardom, if not superstardom. No. 1 picks in years past include luminaries such as Elgin Baylor, Oscar Robertson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal and LeBron James. A number of unfortunates, however, have failed to fulfill their promise to varying degrees.

Unfortunately for one particular NBA franchise, they have drafted two men that are far more infamous than they are famous.

Here is our list of the five worst No. 1 picks in NBA history.

Michael Olowokandi, known as the, “Kandi Man,” never produce much hype during his NBA career. (Photo credit: commons.wikimedia.org)

5. Michael Olowokandi, Los Angeles Clippers, 1998

Born in Nigeria, the 7-foot tall Olowokandi didn’t even start playing basketball until he was 18. He enrolled in the University of the Pacific in 1995 and, despite his inexperience, established himself as a star player and team leader. Olowokandi guided the Tigers to an NCAA Tournament berth as a junior and as a senior in 1998 he averaged 22 points, 11 boards and three blocked shots per outing. The Clippers made him the first pick in the draft that June.

Olowokandi played one season in Europe thanks to the NBA lockout. In his first season in Los Angeles, he managed 8.9 points and 7.9 rebounds a game, starting 36 out of the 45 games in which he played. He would spend five seasons as a Clipper and, in the last of those in 2003, his season ended after 36 games thanks to a knee injury. He would never again play a full season, spending two-plus lackluster campaigns with the Minnesota Timberwolves and one and a half even less impressive seasons with the Boston Celtics. The “Kandi Man” ended his career at age 31, having averaged 8.3 points and 6.8 rebounds a game in increasingly limited action.

4. Pervis Ellison, Sacramento Kings, 1989

Nicknamed “Never Nervous” for his style of play at the University of Louisville, Ellison started at center in college despite being a smallish 6’9″. His freshman year, he led Louisville to its second national title and left the university with more than 2,000 points and 1,000 boards.

Ellison ran into problems early in his pro career, playing in only 34 of 82 games for the Kings thanks to injuries and averaging an anemic 8.0 points per game. He was traded to the Washington Bullets in the offseason and actually had a few solid years, but continued to be dogged by various boo-boos. Then it was off to the Celtics, where about the only noteworthy thing Ellison did in five years was drop a table on his foot. Then he joined the Seattle SuperSonics in 2000, but retired after five games.

In all fairness to Ellison, he surely would have been a much better player had he not been hurt at every opportunity. But hurt he was — he averaged an astonishingly low 42 games a year in his 11-year career.

Kent Benson, shown here in college at Indiana, had his jaw broken by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar within the first few minutes of his NBA career. (Photo credit: commons.wikimedia.org)

3. Kent Benson, Milwaukee Bucks, 1977

Benson was the Big Ten Player of the Year in 1977 on a terrible 16-11 Indiana team that did not make a postseason appearance despite being the defending NCAA champions. He was a two-time All-American and was selected by the Bucks as the top pick in the 1977 draft.

Benson’s career was highly inconsequential. He was more infamous than he was famous. Barely a couple of minutes into his first game in the NBA, Benson had his jaw broken by the Lakers’ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Jabbar hit Benson in the face with a haymaker than shattered his own hand and kept the Hall of Famer out of action for about two months.

Benson was swapped around the league for 11 years and played for four different teams. He only averaged 9.1 ppg for his career.

2. LaRue Martin, Portland Trail Blazers, 1972

Martin, who attended college at Loyola University in his hometown of Chicago, made waves when he outplayed UCLA demigod Bill Walton in a game during Martin’s senior year, 1971-72. The Trail Blazers picked him first ahead of future Hall of Famers Bob McAdoo and Julius Erving, among many, many others who went on to have better careers.

The 6′ 11″ center simply never picked up the pro game. His rookie season, he averaged an alarmingly low 4.4 points and 4.6 rebounds per game and it scarcely got better after that. Never playing more than 17 minutes a game over the course of a season, Martin, at the end of four years in Portland, had career averages of 5.3 points and 4.6 rebounds. He never played another game in the NBA, finished at 26. In an especially ugly twist, the Blazers drafted Walton and won a championship the year after Martin hung ’em up.

1. Greg Oden, Portland Trail Blazers, 2007

Possibly one of the worst all-time draft picks in professional sports, Oden was a man-child that had the physical attributes to potentially be one of the best players of all-time. He was drafted No. 1 by the Portland Trail Blazers, a team that is no stranger to terrible No. 1 draft picks, and it took him more than a year to score his first basket as a professional basketball player.

Oden was drafted out of Ohio State after only one season with the Buckeyes, Had he stayed with the program, he would not have entered the draft until well after he was unceremoniously retired from the NBA at an age he was barely old enough, despite the look of a 50-year-old man, to purchase alcohol. He missed his first entire season in the NBA to an injury and played only two seasons for the Trail Blazers.

Regardless if he was hurt, or had freak injuries, the fact remains that the guy was one of the biggest flops in professional sports.