NBA Draft: 30 Worst No. 1 overall picks in league history (Updated 2023)

30 worst No. 1 overall picks in league history: 29. Bob Boozer

Stats:

• 14.8 points
• 8.1 rebounds
• 1.4 assists

As was the case with nearly every first overall pick prior to the 1990s, Bob Boozer was a highly decorated college player. The Nebraska native led Kansas State University to the Final Four and twice was named an All-American. That propelled him not only to the first overall pick but to a spot on the prestigious 1960 Olympic basketball team that won the gold medal in Rome.

Back then, players were only eligible to represent their country in the Olympics if they were “amateur” players; appearing in the NBA would have made a player such as Boozer ineligible. He was drafted first overall by the Cincinnati Royals in the 1959 NBA Draft, but postponed his NBA career by a year to retain Olympic eligibility and instead played (and dominated) in an AAU league.

Boozer finally joined the Royals in 1960, and slowly developed from there, going from a bench player to a full-time starter. The Royals moved on from him in late 1963, trading him to the New York Knicks where he got a larger role and played well enough to be flipped to the Los Angeles Lakers for Dick Barnett.

The transactional movement continued for Barnett, who played in his first NBA Finals in 1966 with the Lakers. Unprotected in the following summer’s expansion draft, Boozer was selected by the new Chicago Bulls franchise. It was with the Bulls that he had his best statistical seasons, including averaging 21.5 points and 9.8 rebounds in 1967-68 to earn his first and only All-Star berth.

Boozer’s career arc landed with a final season in Milwaukee with the Bucks, where he rejoined former Olympic and Cincinnati teammate Oscar Robertson alongside Lew Alcindor, winning the NBA Championship in 1971 and bracketing Boozer’s career with title success. Buoyed by relative good health over his 11-year career, Boozer amassed 64.2 win shares over 874 games; no other player in this “worst 30” list totaled more.

Should have picked: Wilt Chamberlain (originally 3rd)