20 NBA Hall-of-Fame careers that were cut short by injury

NBA Hall-of-Fame career cut short: Shawn Kemp

One of the most athletic players in NBA history, Shawn Kemp lived above the rim. A ferocious dunker, Kemp was nicknamed “Reign Man” and for much of his career, he was reigning shots down on the competition. Drafted in 1989 by the Seattle SuperSonics, Kemp played the first eight seasons of his career in Seattle, with the highlight coming in a 1996 run to the NBA Finals where he and Gary Payton pushed the Michael Jordan Bulls in a six-game defeat.

Kemp began to battle with dissatisfaction with his contract situation, which led to Seattle trading him to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 1997 offseason. In Cleveland, while he continued to put up strong numbers, he clearly lacked some of the fire from his earlier days. He struggled with his weight, and that affected both his sky-walking athleticism and the long-term future of his lower body.

The next half-decade of Kemp’s carer was riddle with minor injuries, struggles with weight and various side effects of alcohol and drug addiction. His off-court life seemed to spiral, and that had a deleterious effect on his on-court performance. He bounced around the league and ultimately couldn’t sign back on with another team after the 2002-03 season.

Kemp’s trajectory to the Hall of Fame was seemingly rock solid, but the various physical maladies that he suffered from (it’s too complicated to declare them self-inflicted or not) sapped his impact too quickly for that plane to land. Kemp isn’t going to make the Basketball Hall of Fame, a sober epitaph to one of basketball’s most fun players to watch.