Sometimes, potential falls flat and nowhere is that more obvious than in Draft busts. We're counting down the best (worst?) NBA Draft busts–last week's bust, Greg Oden, came in at #5. Here's our #4 pick:
#4: Michael Olowokandi, University of the Pacific, 1998 NBA Draft: 1st Overall Pick
Next up at #4 on the 2aDays Top 5 list of most significant NBA Draft pick busts is Michael Olowakandi, a 7-foot center who attended the University of the Pacific in California. Olowokandi was not a highly recruited high school basketball player. He wasn't even recruited by Pacific's coaching staff and only joined the men's basketball team after calling the school's basketball office in hopes of getting accepted. He's also an exception to other players on this list, as well as other well known NBA Draft pick busts who aren't on this list, due to him graduating from college with a degree in economics after attending for four years. Players who get selected 1st overall, or very high in the first round, then turn out to flop in the NBA are typically part of the “one and done” group, or taken straight out of high school if they were drafted pre-2005.
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Some of Olowokandi's most memorable highlights from his college basketball career at Pacific include leading his team to the NCAA tournament his junior year, as well as the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) his senior year. In terms of individual stats, Olowokandi's senior year was his most dominant by far–he averaged a double-double, with 22 points, 11 rebounds, and three blocks per game en route to getting honored by earning the Big West Conference Player of the Year Award. His collegiate basketball legacy was cemented for good in Pacific sports history when the university retired his No. 55 jersey number. Upon graduating following the completion of the 1997-98 season, Olowokandi was selected as the 1st overall pick in the 1998 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Clippers.
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Olowokandi's professional basketball career started with an Italian team, Kinder Bologna, due to the 1998-99 NBA lockout. Shortly after, once the lockout ended, he signed with the Clippers and played five very mediocre seasons for them, considering he was the 1st overall pick in his draft class. After ultimately being let go by the Clippers, he signed as an unrestricted free agent with the Minnesota Timberwolves. His three years in Minnesota were riddled with severe injuries and inconsistent play, which effectively ended his NBA career.
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He was traded to the Boston Celtics in a multi-player deal in 2006, and he retired as a Celtic in 2007, having appeared in just 40 games in his two-season span there. By the time his NBA career was over, Olowokandi had appeared in 500 NBA games, averaging just 8.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 1.39 blocks per game. While he barely made any playoff game appearances, the 15 he did play in were significantly worse–in the playoffs, Olowokandi averaged 2.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 0.7 blocks per game…not the kind of numbers you hope to see from a 7-foot 1st overall draft choice. Finally, many also consider Olowokandi to be a bust because he was drafted higher than future NBA superstars from his same draft class, including Dirk Nowitzki, Paul Pierce, and Vince Carter.
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Image Credit: Fansided
* Originally published on January 25, 2023, by 2aDays Staff
