Even though all NBA clubs have scouts and youth basketball experts who recommend the best players for the draft year after year, it sometimes doesn’t work out. Even good references are no guarantee that a talented youngster will become a top basketball player.
Making picks in the NBA draft is like betting on a horse. Occasionally, a favorite loses and an underdog surprises. More often than not, the scouts get it right, and the players selected in the first round become regulars on their teams, though occasionally, they disappear between average and below average.
In the following, we have selected 14 basketball players drafted since the turn of the millennium which had high expectations but failed to live up to them. But before getting down to our list of biggest NBA Draft busts of the 21st century, let’s see what the NBA draft is. Stay tuned!
What is the NBA Draft?
Before every season, club officials from NBA teams and numerous young players come together at an event. During this event, the teams can secure the rights to the available young players for the new season. Most players come directly from college. However, some come from Europe (e.g. Dennis Schröder). Players are only eligible for the draft if they have been out of high school for at least one year and/or will turn 19 by the end of the year in which the draft takes place.
How does NBA Draft work exactly?
NBA Draft takes place in two rounds. In total, teams in the NBA select 60 young players. Every team has one chance per round to grab an interesting player. Naturally, there are far more than 60 players at the event, meaning that many of them have to go home without a club or a contract.
Who gets to be the first pick?
The NBA Draft order is determined by how teams performed in the previous regular season (playoffs are ignored). Because the league is supposed to be as balanced as possible, teams that performed the worst in the season get to pick a player first. Top teams get their turn at the end! To prevent manipulation attempts, there is a so-called draft lottery!
What is the NBA Draft lottery?
So that a team, which no longer has a chance to make the playoffs, doesn’t lose extra to be earlier in the upcoming NBA Draft, the Draft Lottery was created in 1985! The drums are 14 balls in the lottery, consecutively numbered from 1 to 14. Then, 4 balls are drawn. This combination is assigned to a team. The sequence of numbers does not matter: 1-2-3-4 is equal to 4-3-2-1. There are 1001 possibilities in total. Combination 11-12-13-14 is not distributed, leaving 1000 possibilities at the end.
These 1000 combinations are assigned to the teams. The bad team gets 250 combinations, which gives them a 25 percent chance of winning the lottery. The second-worst team gets 188 combinations (18.8%), while the third-worst team gets 142 (14.2%). The best team of the last regular season gets only 5 combinations (0,5 %).
The lottery runs in three rounds, where one number combination is drawn for each round. Which team has this combination then has the right of the first pick (selection of a player).
This is the NBA Draft order
The first pick may go to the winner of the first round of the draft lottery, followed by the winner of the second round of the lottery, followed by the winner of the third round of the lottery. Picks four through 14 have the teams that failed to qualify for the playoffs, in inverse order of their regular-season rankings. The 15th through 30th picks in the NBA Draft belongs to playoff contenders in reverse order of their rankings in the regular season.
The NBA Draft: Give up your right to vote
At the NBA Draft, Teams can surrender their right to select a player. This usually comes with a previous (or later) transfer. For example, Team A desperately wants a player from Team B. Team B needs Team A’s draft right for the transfer.
The NBA Draft: players selected and now?
When the order is determined, and all 60 players have been selected, it’s time to negotiate between the teams. Even if a team has secured the rights to a player, it doesn’t mean that he will play for the team next season. Still, any player selected in the first round of the NBA Draft must be signed to at least a one-year contract by the respective team.
Those players picked in round two “belong” to the team for three years but don’t have to be signed. However, the team holds the rights to the player, which must, of course, be taken into account in any potential transfers.
Also Read:
Biggest NBA Draft Busts of the 21st Century
Now that you know everything about the NBA drafts, it is time to get down to our list of worst NBA drafts of the 21st century.
Marcus Fizer (USA) – 4th pick in 2000 (Chicago Bulls)
In fairness, the 2000 draft had very few names that would go on to become NBA stars in the years to come. Marcus Fizer, who had an illustrious career in the college ranks, was to be one of them. That is one of the reasons why the Chicago Bulls selected him as the fourth player in the draft.
Fizer played six years in the league and had some pretty good seasons. He signed a 10-day contract with New Orleans in the 2005-06 season and played only three games, finishing his career.
Yi Jianlian (China) – 6th pick in 2007 (Milwaukee Bucks)
The Milwaukee Bucks selected Yi Jianlian, 213 cm tall from China, as the sixth player in the 2007 draft, hoping he could become the new Dirk Nowitzki. But Yi wasn’t even the next Yao Ming.
In his five years switching four clubs in the NBA, Yi had a pretty decent season in a New Jersey Nets jersey, scoring an average of 12 points per game and contributing 7.2 rebounds and a block per game. In 2012, he finished his career in Dallas and quietly returned to China.
Rafael Araujo (Brazil) – 8th overall pick in 2004 (Toronto Raptors)
The Brazilian basketball player Rafael Araujo spent only three seasons in the NBA and was selected by the Toronto Raptors in the 2004 draft. The 211 cm center’s career was a complete bust.
He spent more than 600 minutes on the court in two seasons, yet his block average statistic is even more frightening, which stands at 0.1! He retired from the NBA in 2007 with a record of 139 games.
Jan Veselý (Czech Republic) – 6th pick in 2011 (Washington Wizards)
When Washington selected Jan Veselý with the sixth pick in the 2011 draft, that was a huge achievement for Czech basketball. After being selected, this young player stunned fans and television viewers alike when he passionately kissed his girlfriend in front of the cameras. It is probably the most memorable moment for her.
A lot more was expected from a 213-centimeter, Athletically gifted man from Washington. In fact, though, that’s where he spent two seasons with the Wizards before being traded to Denver. His competitive journey ended there in the summer of 2014.
Michael Sweetney (USA) – 9th overall pick in 2003 (New York Knicks)
After an extremely successful college career at Georgetown, in which he posted better stats than Patrick Ewing, for instance, many fans of the New York Knicks rejoiced after the 2003 draft when they saw what kind of player the club had snagged. Though Michael Sweetney played in a different era than Ewing, the two players were often compared.
However, Sweetney’s career in New York and in the NBA was short-lived. He failed mainly because he could not maintain his ideal weight and physical abilities. He played four seasons, only the first two of which he completed in the jersey of the Knicks. The next two years he spent in Chicago.
Kwame Brown (USA) – 1st election in 2001 (Washington Wizards)
American Kwame Brown is remembered more for his big claims in the NBA than for his performances on the court, and that’s because of a statement he made before the 2001 draft. Referring to the Washington Wizards, he said, “If you pick me, you’ll never regret it.” He couldn’t have said anything more true to reality.
During his twelve years in the NBA, he only once succeeded in finishing a season with an average of more than ten points per game. However, in the end, Brown had probably the most to laugh about anyway because, despite his mediocre performances, he managed to earn a handsome 64 million dollars during his career. If he hadn’t struggled through a dozen years of competition, he’d probably be even higher on this list.
Dajuan Wagner (USA) – 6th pick in 2002 (Cleveland Cavaliers)
Dajuan Wagner was one of the most well-known young players before the 2002 draft, scoring 100 points even in a single game in college. The expectations of Cleveland fans were high, but Wagner, compared to Allen Iverson, was never going to be the star they dreamed of. In his four years in the NBA, he only played 103 games due to injuries, and his stats are certainly not impressive. Stromile Swift (USA) – 2nd overall pick in 2000 (Vancouver Grizzlies).
Stromile Swift was supposed to become the new Swahn Kemp because of his height (208 cm) and athletic abilities. Still, he failed to meet experts’ expectations. He played nine years in the NBA, where he could have played a couple of good seasons but didn’t do enough to become a number two pick in the draft.
The last time Swift’s name appeared in the news was a few years ago in connection with a stalking confession. Stalking and harassing his ex-girlfriend, for which the basketball player received a suspended sentence of six months.
Nikoloz Tskitishvili (Georgia) – 5th overall pick in 2002 (Denver Nuggets)
The Georgian Nikoloz Tskitishvili is regarded as one of the biggest misfits in the NBA draft history. During four seasons, the 213-centimeter tall player moved around the American boards in the prestigious competition, playing in 172 games. Nevertheless, he was in the starting lineup in only sixteen of them – and that was early in his career.
He made nine million dollars in his NBA career, which he earned for practically nothing. When he returned from abroad, he trialed in the Spanish and Italian leagues and the top teams in Iran and Bahrain.
Hasheem Thabeet (Tanzania) – 2nd overall pick in 2009 (Memphis Grizzlies)
For Memphis to select him second overall in the 2009 draft is a testament to the fact that much was expected of Tanzania’s Hasheem Thabeet. After all, he spent five seasons in the NBA in which he failed to show anything out of the ordinary. The numbers on his stat sheet are abysmal. At 221 centimeters tall, you would expect him to at least be a good blocker, though the opposite was true. The scouts were thoroughly mistaken in his case.
Greg Oden (USA) – 1st pick in 2007 (Portland Trail Blazers)
Arguably, Portland is the most unfortunate club in the history of the NBA. Well, not only did they once pick Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan, but eleven years ago, scouts repeated a similar mistake. Instead of reaching for Kevin Durant, the Blazers selected Greg Oden with the draft’s first pick. That was a very bad pick.
However, not to be unfair, in 2007, Oden was widely regarded as a future basketball superstar, only to have his development stunted by injury. He played 82 games in two seasons with Portland and said goodbye to the NBA altogether in 2010. He only competed in the 2013/14 season in the jersey of the Miami Heats. His fresh start, however, did not go so well. He appeared in only 23 games, and problems hampered his career in his personal life.
Stromile Swift (USA) – 2nd overall pick in 2000 (Vancouver Grizzlies)
Stromile Swift was supposed to become the new Swahn Kemp because of his height (208 cm) and athletic abilities. Still, he failed to meet experts’ expectations. He played nine years in the NBA, where he could have played a couple of good seasons but didn’t do enough to become a number two pick in the draft.
The last time Swift’s name appeared in the news was a few years ago in connection with a stalking confession. Stalking and harassing his ex-girlfriend, for which the basketball player received a suspended sentence of six months.
Adam Morrison (USA) – 3rd pick in 2006 (Charlotte Bobcats)
Before coming to the NBA, Adam Morrison had one of the best careers in college basketball history in the United States. He was selected as the number three pick by the Charlotte Bobcats in 2006, but since then, he went downhill.
Having spent only two seasons with the club, he then transferred to the Los Angeles Lakers, where he became a two-time NBA champion but failed to play a significant role in the team and spent little time on the floor. He parted ways with the Californians after two seasons. He went to Europe, where he represented the colors of Red Star Belgrade and Istanbul Besiktas. In 2012, he tried to return to the NBA but failed.
Darko Milicic (Serbia) – 2nd overall pick in 2003 (Detroit Pistons)
In the opinion of many experts, Darko Milicic is the biggest basketball disappointment in the NBA in the new millennium. He is not at the top of this list just because he ended up playing ten seasons in the prestigious league, and some of them were not all that bad.
There will always be some comparisons to the players that clubs selected in the top five in the 2003 draft when it comes to Milicic. Plus, they’re big names! LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade became the NBA’s biggest stars. At the same time, Milicic remained deep in their shadows.
Anthony Bennett (Canada) – 1st pick in 2013 (Cleveland Cavaliers)
While Anthony Bennett was still playing in the University of Nevada jersey, he failed to do anything extraordinary that would have made him the number one pick in the NBA draft. So when Cleveland took him at the beginning of the 2013 draft, he stunned many scouts and fans.
Yet the Cavaliers soon discovered they had made a big mistake. A year after the draft, he became the victim of a trade to Minnesota. He lasted only one season there, too. He spent the next two years playing sporadically in Toronto and Brooklyn. After the 2016-17 season, he didn’t make another appearance in the NBA and likely won’t again. Bennett is regarded as the biggest draft flop of all time, and that’s not likely to change anytime soon.
