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Each NBA team’s most devastating injury in franchise history

By Christopher Jeter

Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls. (Photo by Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images)
Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls. (Photo by Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Bill Walton, Portland Trail Blazers
Bill Walton, Portland Trail Blazers. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) /

Most devastating injury in Portland Trail Blazers history: Bill Walton, Sam Bowie and Greg Oden

I decided to put three guys here for the Portland Trail Blazers because these centers best encapsulate the terrible luck this franchise has experienced with talented big men. LaRue Martin doesn’t count since he was a pure bust.

Obviously, Bill Walton had the best career out of the trio. In his four seasons in Portland, he averaged 17.1 points, 13.5 boards and 4.4 assists per game, while making two NBA All-Star teams, winning the 1977-78 MVP and helping the Trail Blazers win their first and only league title to date.

In that MVP season, Walton suffered the first of what was to be many foot injuries that hampered him throughout his relatively brief NBA career. He bounced around a bit after he forced his way out of Portland. Walton played for his hometown San Diego Clippers and the Boston Celtics along the way, but he never reached the peak that he did in the late 1970s.

But at least Walton had something of a Hall of Fame career. The same can’t be said for Sam Bowie nor Greg Oden, who the Trail Blazers selected in the 1984 and 2007 drafts, respectively.

It’s eerie thinking about all the historical similarities between Bowie and Oden. Both men were primarily selected because Portland felt that their needs at the wing were filled.

Portland had Clyde Drexler on the roster in the 1980s and they had a pre-injury Brandon Roy in the 2000s. Both Bowie and Oden had serious questions about their health going into the draft, but both were expected to help the Trail Blazers compete for a championship.

We all know how both of those scenarios played out. The Trail Blazers ended up stuck with an oft-injured big man while the players selected after them with the next pick developed into superstars. Michael Jordan went No. 3 overall to the Chicago Bulls in 1984 and Kevin Durant went to the then-Seattle SuperSonics in 2007.

These injury-addled centers, particularly Bowie and Oden, serve as a reminder that sometimes it’s better to draft the best player available, instead of trying to fill a need.