Miami Heat: Remembering 2013

Greg Oden Makes An Appearance

In a word, the story of Greg Oden’s NBA career can best be described as heartbreaking. This is a guy that seemingly can’t catch a break – or rather has had too many.

Having been drafted first overall in the 2007 NBA Draft by the Portland Trail Blazers, ahead of Kevin Durant, Oden’s career has only nose-dived from that very moment. The center who was hailed as the “next big thing” is now considered by many to be right up there among the biggest Draft busts in the game, simply because he couldn’t get healthy enough to fulfill his potential, playing just a single season’s worth of NBA games during his pro career. All while watching Durant rise to become arguably the second best player in the game.

Nonetheless, despite battling his demons along the way, Oden has been handed another shot at salvation by the Miami Heat. And in October, during a preseason contest against the New Orleans Pelicans, he got his chance to make his first appearance on the NBA hardwood for the first time since December of 2009, much to the joy of the NBA community.