Whatever happened to these 30 college basketball stars who flamed out in the NBA?

6. College basketball stars who flamed out as pros – Christian Laettner

Perhaps the most reviled college basketball player ever, Christian Laettner earned his reputation thanks to his incredible clutch performances. The author of one of the most legendary shots in NCAA Tournament history, Laettner was the sport’s biggest star during his playing career at Duke.

Hopes were so high for Laettner that he was the one amateur player selected to play for the Dream Team in 1992 alongside NBA legends like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. The two-time NCAA Champion was taken with the third overall pick in the NBA Draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves, perhaps a warning sign that Laettner’s pro career was in trouble based on how many other great prospects flamed out in Minneapolis.

Laettner was a solid if unsteady pro who could never find a foothold in one place, failing to play more than four seasons for a single franchise over the course of his career. There were some peaks for Laettner, who was an NBA All-Star in 1997, but not enough of them to justify the hype he had coming out of Duke.

A documentary on Laettner years later suggested that he was never able to find the right fit in the NBA. That makes a lot of sense as it was definitely strange for a player as accomplished as Laettner in college to essentially be just a guy in the pros.