5 modern-day NBA careers that ended too quickly

3. Greg Oden

When it comes to drafting, you’d be hard-pressed to find a team with worse luck than the Portland Trail Blazers. This is the team that passed up on Michael Jordan and struck out twice in a row when they picked Brandon Roy and Greg Oden over guys like Rajon Rondo and Kevin Durant.

The main reason they chose Oden in 2007 was because of his career in college. In just one season at Ohio State, he averaged 15.7 points per game, which is outstanding for a big man, as well as 9.6 rebounds and 3.3 blocks. In addition to being a second-team All-American, he was voted Defensive Player of the Year while Steve Kerr, then a TV analyst, called him a “once-in-a-decade player.”

But before Oden could even suit up for the Trail Blazers, he went through microfracture surgery on his right knee. Then in his rookie season, he suffered a foot injury in his NBA debut. His 2009-10 season was cut short due to a fractured left patella, while a microfracture surgery on his left knee forced him to miss the entire 2010-11 season. He spent three years rehabbing from his knee problems and only spent one more season with the Miami Heat after that.

All told, the 61 games Oden played in his rookie year were the most he had ever spent on the court. And during his career, he was more famous for a leaked nude photo and not any time he actually spent playing. With the unenviable title of one of the biggest draft busts in recent memory, you can be sure the Blazers would like a mulligan on this pick.