Promising NBA Careers That Injuries Totally Derailed
Turns out being a living giant is bad for your health. And making matters worse for NBA players: smashing those massive bodies into each other repeatedly. Oh, and changing directions at full speed. And leaping as high as one can before landing on hardwood floors. Far too often, these physical requirements of basketball have cost great players the careers they’d once seemed destined for, and have cost fans the chance to watch those players meet their potential. But if you don’t believe it, just ask Yao Ming. Or Andrew Bynum. Or just about anyone drafted by the Trail Blazers. Find those guys and more on our list of the greatest NBA careers derailed by injury, in no particular order.
Bill Walton
The center’s Hall of Fame career was ravaged by knee injures. At one point he sat out three seasons in a four-year span, playing just 14 games in the lone year he made it onto the court. The 1977 NBA Finals MVP and 1978 NBA MVP played just 468 regular season games.
Larry Johnson
[dx_custom_adunit desktop_id=”RTK_K67O” mobile_id=”RTK_5yk0″]
Grandmama was an immediate beast in the NBA, averaging 19.2 points, 11 rebounds, and 3.6 assists as a rookie and maintaining that production through his first five seasons.
But as his back got worse, the power forward moved farther from the basket, limiting his production as he moved to small forward with age. He retired at 32 after just 10 seasons.
Gilbert Arenas
After his first three seasons, Arenas enjoyed a blistering three-year peak in which he averaged 27.7 points, 5.7 assists, 1.9 steals, and 2.6 threes per game while connecting from deep at a 36.1 percent clip. But with eight games remaining in 2006-07, he tore his MCL at the age of 25.
After that, Agent 0 played in just 134 more NBA games, over a span of five seasons.
Jamal Mashburn
The small forward filled it up out of the gate in his NBA career, averaging 21.8 points per game through his first three seasons before a knee injury limited him to just 18 games in 1995-96, his third year in the league.
Monster Mash played in just 141 games over the following three seasons before regaining his form: Over the last five seasons of his career, Mashburn averaged 20.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 4.7 assists per game, but knee injuries guided him into retirement. He played his last game at age 32.