Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- The New Orleans Pelicans selected a player with immense hype and physical gifts during the 2019 NBA Draft, expecting him to become the cornerstone of their franchise.
- Despite high expectations, the player has battled numerous injuries and inconsistencies, stalling the Pelicans' development and keeping them out of contention.
- The prolonged struggles have left the Pelicans questioning whether a different direction might have transformed their franchise's trajectory in the league.
The NBA is, more than any other sport, a game of stars. If a team doesn’t have a star player, they aren’t going anywhere. Even the best examples of teams still had stars. The San Antonio Spurs won a ton of championships with that team-first approach, but it was built around Tim Duncan. The Bad Boy Pistons were a great defensive juggernaut, but it was Isaiah Thomas who pushed the team forward.
And many of these stars come with the first-overall pick in the NBA Draft. We see players come from a mile away, sometimes tracking them through high school to see if they will change the narrative around our team.
Unfortunately, like every other sport, the first pick is never a guarantee. For every LeBron James and Victor Wembanyama, there are the 10 guys on this list. For ranking, we prioritize guys who truly ruined franchises on top of being genuinely terrible. And this is why we’re starting off with a bang.
10. Zion Williamson, 2019 NBA Draft, New Orleans Pelicans
The 2019 NBA Draft was one of those draft years where we were really paying attention to who won the lottery. Many were hoping that teams in the big city would be getting the number-one overall pick, specifically the New York Knicks, who haven’t been able to get out of the cellar of the Eastern Conference (until Jalen Brunson came and saved them). Instead, the Knicks got the third pick and took R.J. Barrett. The New Orleans Pelicans got the first pick and took his teammate, Zion Williamson.
Williamson got every comparison under the sun. He was this generation’s LeBron James. He was built like a Greek statue, but he could probably jump over the backboard. He was explosive and energetic with an ability to dominate possessions while playing with Duke. He has already shown he can play in high-leverage games.
Since he was drafted, Williamson has been a case of injuries and disappointment. His numbers in a vacuum don’t come close to the worst players on this list, especially considering the hype. The Pelicans built multiple teams around Williamson, and he just kept getting hurt, throwing the Pelicans as a franchise in disarray. Now, seven years after Williamson was drafted, New Orleans is further away from contention than they’ve ever been. Maybe he can turn this team around eventually, but we’d expect the Pelicans and Williamson to eventually divorce to seek a change of scenery.
9. Joe Smith, 1995 NBA Draft, Golden State Warriors
Prior to the Steph Curry era, the Golden State Warriors had way more misses than hits in their franchise’s history. They had three first-overall picks, taking Fred Hetzel in 1965, Joe Barry Carroll in 1980, and Joe Smith in 1995. One of those stands out as an awful pick, while the other two just didn’t give them the expectations of a first pick.
Smith was great at the University of Maryland, scoring more than 20 points per game and averaging more than 10 rebounds per game in his sophomore season. He was part of a STACKED draft class coming out of college. Jerry Stackhouse was incredible, Rasheed Wallace brought something superb on both sides of the court, and Kevin Garnett was the wild card out of high school. There was a clear pick here, but any of them would have been better than Smith.
This was an unspectacular choice. Smith had some flashes of brilliance in his rookie year, including a 20-20 game against the Charlotte Hornets. He finished third in Rookie of the Year voting behind Damon Stoudamire and Arvydas Sabonis. He had a great start, and the Warriors even tried to pay him north of $80 million on his second contract, but he chose free agency, and he was traded to the Sixers. After that, Smith had a mediocre career that bounced around. Meanwhile, the Minnesota Timberwolves are probably still there because they took a chance on Garnett.
8. Kent Benson, 1977 NBA Draft, Milwaukee Bucks
Kent Benson was a dominant force at Indiana in college, putting together impressive numbers for Bob Knight’s squad. He won a national championship and was one of the best centers in the country. A top pick like that is usually expected to become a franchise cornerstone or at least a perennial All-Star. In his first game as a professional, Benson got into a fight with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, but the Bucks didn’t do him any favors.
He’s actually the “Good Luck Chuck” of this league. He was twice traded for Hall of Famers, and the Bucks took him over Hall of Famers Walter Davis, Bernard King, and Jack Sikma. To his credit, Benson made 10 years in the league, but he never made that step to superstardom that first-overall picks are expected to make.
Benson wasn’t a total bust. He didn’t devastate the Bucks himself, but missing out on Hall of Famers definitely hurt. He left the game after a season in Italy to try and extend his career, but he walked away when he was no longer viable in the NBA.
7. Pervis Ellison, 1989 NBA Draft , Sacramento Kings
Pervis Ellison had everything you wanted as an NBA franchise. He led his team to a national championship with the Louisville Cardinals, where he was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament. He did that as a freshman. He kept dominating the country during his four years before joining the league.
When Danny Ainge gives you the nickname “Out of Service Pervis” you can pretty much predict how this all worked out. Ellison missed more than half of his rookie season with the Sacramento Kings before he was traded to the Washington Bullets, going from one cursed franchise to another. He actually bounced back a little bit, winning the NBA’s Most Improved Player award in 1992, but that was his only successful season.
He eventually signed with the Boston Celtics, but played just 69 games in the final three seasons there. Ellison was a clear representation of how impactful lower-body injuries can be to a big man, no matter how athletic. He looked like he was built in a lab to dominate the NBA, but in reality, he was human just like all of us, and he has the knee problems to prove it.
6. LaRue Martin, 1972 NBA Draft, Portland Trailblazers
Let’s rewind to the 1972 NBA Draft. The Portland Trail Blazers are on the clock, a golden opportunity to shape the future of their young franchise. Instead of grabbing a surefire superstar, they roll the dice on LaRue Martin, who was a big man out of Loyola University with athleticism and promise that, if he hit his ceiling, would change the trajectory of the franchise he called home.
Instead, Martin was pedestrian as a player. He averaged fewer than six points per game over his career, and he was surprisingly bad at rebounding for a big man. He averaged fewer than five rebounds, as well. Nothing was working there. He was making fewer than two field goals per game. And four years later, his career was over. The Trailblazers took Bill Walton first overall in 1974, leaving LaRue as a backup just two years after he was taken first overall. He was eventually traded, but then he was cut by the 76ers. He tried to make the Bulls and Cavaliers’ roster, but he was cut and his career ended.
The player taken right after LaRue was Bob McAdoo, a Hall of Famer. A few picks later, Paul Westphal went to the Boston Celtics. Two picks after that, Dr. J Julius Erving went to the Milwaukee Bucks. The NBA saw superstars going in this draft, but the Blazers got none of them. Thankfully, their next first-overall pick eventually led to a championship.
5. Michael Olowokandi, 1998 NBA Draft, Los Angeles Clippers
Michael Olowokandi is a bad draft pick in just about any draft. He averaged less than nine points and eight rebounds for his career, as what should have been a dominant center in a league still led by big guys. He came out of Nigeria and played for Pacific University. He was seven feet tall, and that’s it. He didn’t understand the rules of the game or how to stay in shape. Yet, the Los Angeles Clippers took him first overall in the draft.
Again, this is an insane pick and should be studied further. However, let’s talk about why this is much worse. Who went second? Mike Bibby, who was really important for the best Sacramento Kings teams. Fifth overall was Hall of Famer Vince Carter. Then at 10th overall, the Boston Celtics got their franchise cornerstone, Hall of Famer Paul Pierce. Right before him was Dirk Nowitzki, one of the greatest players in the history of the sport.
Olowokandi was pretty bad to start his career, but he did get a little better. He had 12 points and nine rebounds per game in his fifth season with the Clippers. Then, the Clippers couldn’t afford to give him a contract that would pay him $4 million per season. So, maybe this was the right pick because they definitely would have let Carter, Pierce, or Nowitzki leave in free agency and got nothing for them anyway.
4. Anthony Bennett, 2013 NBA Draft, Cleveland Cavaliers
Unlike many on this list, Anthony Bennett was an insane pick from the start. He just never seemed to make sense as a prospect. The Cleveland Cavaliers held the pick close to the vest all the way to the draft, and they revealed their pick at the podium. Many mock drafts had Bennett going between 5 and 10 on the board. Taking a player first when he’s not expected to go nearly that high is a problem.
Bennett was very bad. He played one year with the Cavs before he was traded. He played one year with Minnesota before they waived him. After that, he signed with the Toronto Raptors to play for his home team, but that also lasted a year. He had one more year in the NBA with the Brooklyn Nets before he made a name for himself playing overseas.
There are two things saving Bennett from being the worst player on this list. His circumstances didn’t sink the Cavaliers. In fact, he helped the Cavs get Kevin Love, and he brought a championship to Cleveland. He was also in a terrible draft. Nerlens Noel might be the best player besides Bennett at the top of that draft. Many wanted him or Alex Len to be the top pick. This is just a bad draft. That is, if you ignore the one picked most in the lottery. Giannis Antetokounmpo went 15th overall. If the Cavs got him and traded him for Love, it would be considered the biggest “what if” in basketball history.
3. Markelle Fultz, 2017 NBA Draft, Philadelphia 76ers
This is another example of a team making the wrong draft pick at the top when there were superstars available, but there’s an extra nugget here. The Philadelphia 76ers traded a ton to move up to first in this draft. They sent their third-overall pick to the Boston Celtics for the first pick and a future first-round pick. The Celtics were already reveling in the fact they had this pick thanks to the Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce trade with the Brooklyn Nets, and now a division rival was giving them even more.
The 76ers used the pick to take Markelle Fultz. The Boston Celtics selected Jayson Tatum. We don’t have to tell you why this was such a lopsided trade. The Celtics used the pick the 76ers originally had to select one of the best players in the NBA. He was supposed to round out a core that included Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons (LOL). The Process was supposed to be coming together, and the 76ers were finally ready to compete.
Fultz was out of Philadelphia two years later. He was an awful shooter in the NBA, to the point that people questioned him psychologically. Some of the criticism was unfair, but it was clear something was off. The 76ers traded Fultz at a massive discount to the Orlando Magic, cutting their losses. There were others left on the board, including De’Aron Fox, Donovan Mitchell, and Bam Adebayo, but the Tatum exclusion is what hurts the most.
2. Greg Oden, 2007 NBA Draft, Portland Trailblazers
Big men with knee problems? My goodness, that’s Greg Oden’s music! This one hurts (no pun intended) on so many levels for the Portland Trail Blazers. The same team that left Michael Jordan on the draft board to take Sam Bowie had another choice in front of them. Should they take Oden, the dominant Ohio State center who was a matchup nightmare, or Kevin Durant, the Texas Longhorn who could shoot the lights out despite his gigantic frame?
Since you’re reading this article, you know they made the wrong decision. Even before he played his first game in the NBA, Oden required microfracture surgery in September 2007. He missed what would have been his rookie season. Durant won Rookie of the Year that season.
In his NBA Debut next season, he was forced to leave after 13 minutes with a foot injury. Honestly, we don’t have enough space to list all of his injuries. From 2007 to 2012, Oden played 82 games. Total. That’s over five seasons. Durant played 82 games in 2009-10 alone. He is still playing today! Meanwhile, Oden tried to make a comeback in 2013-14 with the Miami Heat, but he lasted just 23 games before he left to play overseas.
1. Kwame Brown, 2001 NBA Draft, Washington Wizards
There is just so much baggage with the Kwame Brown pick. This was an example of the issues of having Michael Jordan making business and basketball decisions after his superstar career. The Wizards gave him decision-making ability, and he selected Brown out of high school. Brown, after all the hype, averaged fewer than five points and four rebounds in his rookie season.
It was clear early that Brown needed help. So he brought Michael Jordan out of retirement. We don’t care about anyone else on this list, Brown is responsible for the greatest player in the history of sports having to play on a dog water Washington Wizards team. That makes him the worst player in the draft, even if he grinded out a decade-long career.
The obvious miss here is Pau Gasol. The Spanish star had a long and fruitful NBA career. Even if they eventually had to trade him to the Lakers as the Grizzlies did, they’d get a haul and set themselves up for a generation. Instead, the Wizards are still terrible 25 years later. At least they did eventually get Gilbert Arenas, who was drafted by the Warriors with the Wizards' pick. He found his way to the nation’s capital and had a decent career.
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