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NBA Injuries: 20 Stars Who Deserve A Career Do-Over

By Gerald Bourguet

AUBURN HILLS, UNITED STATES: Detroit Pistons player Grant Hill (L) drives around Indiana Pacers player Chris Mullin during the first half of their game 07 February at the Palace of Auburn Hills. The Pistons beat the Pacers 107-98. AFP PHOTO/JEFF KOWALSKY (Photo credit should read JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP/Getty Images)
AUBURN HILLS, UNITED STATES: Detroit Pistons player Grant Hill (L) drives around Indiana Pacers player Chris Mullin during the first half of their game 07 February at the Palace of Auburn Hills. The Pistons beat the Pacers 107-98. AFP PHOTO/JEFF KOWALSKY (Photo credit should read JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP/Getty Images) /
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NBA Injuries
Sam Bowie of the Portland Trailblazers dribbles around Cedric Maxwell of the Los Angeles Clippers during a basketball game in Los Angeles, California. /

8. Sam Bowie

You might remember Sam Bowie as the guy that was taken just before Michael Jordan in the 1984 NBA Draft. Though Hakeem Olajuwon was taken ahead of Jordan as well, that decision led to two titles and the greatest player in franchise history for the Rockets, so not many people fault Houston for taking him over the eventual G.O.A.T.

Bowie, on the other hand, became the poster child whose face appears on every red flag that pops up whenever a seven-footer with bad knees/feet enters the draft. Taken second by the Blazers in one of the greatest draft classes of all time, Bowie figured to help a Portland team looking for frontcourt help for the ailing Bill Walton. Rip City also didn’t need a guard, since they already had Jim Paxson at the point and had drafted shooting guard Clyde Drexler the year before.

Unfortunately, Bowie would go on to become one of the biggest draft busts in NBA history despite the undeniable potential he showed in college. The Blazers probably should have put more stock in his extensive injury history leading up to the draft, since Bowie had missed not one, but TWO collegiate seasons due to a stress fracture in his left tibia.

The injury-prone tag didn’t attach itself to Bowie right away. As a rookie, he averaged 10.0 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game in 76 appearances, earning All-Rookie First Team honors. But in his second season, that feeble left tibia broke again, with Bowie only playing 38 games.

Five games into his third season, Bowie’s other tibia was broken after he landed awkwardly going up for another rebound, effectively ending his season. He didn’t play a single game in 1987-88, and other than his rookie year, Bowie played a grand total of 63 games of a possible 328 during his four last seasons in Rip City.

Bowie was subsequently traded to the New Jersey Nets and stayed relatively healthy there, averaging 14.7 points, 10.1 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game in 68 appearances during his best season there. But he obviously never lived up to Jordan or Hakeem’s legendary careers and had problems staying healthy in his final two NBA seasons after he was traded to the Lakers.

Bowie clearly had the talent to play in the NBA, and his professional career technically lasted until 1995. But as the second overall pick in the draft whose career was tormented by injuries and dreams of “What if?,” it’s impossible to not wonder what might have been if the Blazers had drafted by talent rather than need.

We’re cheating a bit here, since part of Sam Bowie’s what-if factor is the mere fact that Portland bungled their 1984 draft selection, but there’s no question that when it comes to injury-related NBA hypotheticals, Bowie belongs high up that list in every sense.

Next: No. 7