Kentucky basketball: 5 Wildcats who didn’t live up to the NBA hype

These Kentucky basketball greats were NBA busts.

Kentucky is a die-hard basketball state and the Wildcats are one of college basketball’s premier programs. One of the true NCAA basketball blue bloods, Kentucky basketball has produced great players throughout the years like Jamal Mashburn and Anthony Davis.

With all of the great NBA players Kentucky has produced, there have been a few Wildcats who have been disappointments at the NBA level and were hit with the dreaded NBA bust label. These are the five biggest Kentucky basketball NBA busts.

5. Kentucky basketball NBA busts: Jack Givens

One of the stars of Kentucky’s 1978 national championship team, Givens left school as the Wildcats’ third all-time leading scorer. Givens, who was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four in 1978, was taken with the 16th overall pick in the NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks.

After averaging 6.7 points per game over his first two years in Atlanta, Givens was left unprotected by the Hawks in the 1980 expansion draft. The Dallas Mavericks took Givens in the expansion draft, but he chose not to report and essentially retired from the NBA.

Givens did spend a few years playing overseas, but he never came close to living up to the promise he had at Kentucky. This may be more a matter of circumstances never putting Givens in the right situation, explaining his placement on this list.