NBA History: 25 former NBA stars you forgot dominated the league
By Cal Durrett
![Gilbert Arenas Gilbert Arenas](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_3000,h_1687,x_0,y_131/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/GettyImages/mmsport/307/01hnhfb851qf3aqm3kyd.jpg)
5) Bernard King
Although NBA legend Bernard King made the Hall of Fame, injuries limited his potential and made him easier to overlook in all-time discussions. At his best, King was one of the premiere scorers in the NBA, scoring nearly 33 points per game while shooting an outrageous 53% from the field in 1986-86. King started his career for the New Jersey Nets and immediately showed just how dangerous of a scorer he could be.
He averaged a stellar 22.8 points per game in his two seasons in New Jersey and after a brief layover in Utah, he continued that torrential scoring for Golden State and then more famously for New York. King had a terrific seven-season run, averaging 23.7 points and 6.6 rebounds before injuries took their toll. He missed all of the 1985–86 season and only played six games the following year, but to his credit, he strung together four relatively healthy seasons in Washington before missing yet another year in 1991-92.
He finished out his career back in New Jersey as a shell of his former self. All told, he appeared in fewer than 900 games, a comparably low amount for a Hall of Famer, and managed to just miss out on scoring 20,000 points—the calling card of an all-time great scorer.
Those factors hurt him, as did his bouncing around from team to team—playing for five in total—well before players did such a thing. King is still an all-time great player but could have been so much more and remembered far more than he is.