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

30 worst No. 1 overall picks in league history: 25. Greg Oden

Stats:

• 8.0 points
• 6.2 rebounds
• 1.2 blocks

The most difficult players to rank on historical lists of the “best” or “worst” players are those elite talents whose careers were cut short not by poor play but by devastating injuries. Players such as Grant Hill or Bill Walton lack some of the historical volume to be true all-time greats, but when they did play they were absolutely deserving.

Something similar can be said for Greg Oden. As a young prospect, he was an absolutely dominant force, the top player in his high school recruiting class, and a standout at Ohio State University. He and fellow freshman Mike Conley Jr. led the Buckeyes to the national title game, where Oden posted 25 points, 12 rebounds, and four blocks in a loss.

The Portland Trail Blazers took Oden first overall in the 2007 NBA Draft, which at the time was completely reasonable even if it was a difficult decision between Oden and Texas freshman Kevin Durant. Oden signed with the Trail Blazers and soon after had microfracture surgery to help with a chronic knee injury.

That injury never went away, and various related injuries (both knees, foot, back) limited Oden to just 105 career games across three seasons. When Oden did play he was every bit the player Portland thought he was getting on a per-minute basis, but he averaged just 19.3 minutes per game for his career as he could never ramp up to become a full-minute starter.

If the injuries had never happened, it’s very possible Oden would have been a Hall of Fame player. He had everything you would want in a center at the time, with elite rim protection skills and the ability to score and rebound anywhere around the basket. Unfortunately, the career that might have been never came to pass.

Should have picked: Kevin Durant (2nd), Al Horford (3rd), Marc Gasol (48th), Mike Conley (4th)