Who were some of the greatest NBA players who had their careers cut short?

Hard to say if he would have become great but there is Jay Williams.

 

i always felt sorry for brandon roy. He was a graceful old school swingman.

 

As a Rockets fan the obvious answers are Ralph Sampson and Yao Ming.

Bill Walton is probably the most obvious non Rocket.

Andrew Toney was probably the best 2 guard in the league when Moses and Dr J lead the 76ers to a championship. He was on his way to a Hall of Fame career until (like Yao Ming) he had stress fractures in his feet that ruined his career.

 

Has anyone mentioned Roy Tarpley yet? Career cut short by cocaine.

 

I saw Bill Walton play in person once; holy moly, the dude was awesome. He was an unstoppable offensive machine. Penny Hardaway was incredible. Ralph Sampson had the skills of a guard in a body of a seven footer. What could Yao have done without all the broken feet?

 

I too would include Chris Jackson/Abdul Rauf.

He was an elite shooter. At one point, he led the league in FT % at 93+ (missing only 10 the entire season).

He could shoot off the dribble and spot up from midrange and 3.

He was only 6 foot 1 but not a real PG. He could never really play that position. Just not him.

That national anthem thing. That killed it for him. We were robbed from seeing him ever reach his full potential.

He's like a poor man's poor man's Steve Nash or Stephen Curry.

 

Many players fit this criteria for different reasons. I will limit my list to players that actually were hall of fame calibur players prior to injury.

Sampson, Walton and Sabonis all were superstar players prior to injury.

Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady and Anfernee Hardaway all were too 5-10 players before knee issues. Grant Hill was a top 3 player in the league and on his way to being an all time great. McGrady was on his way to a George Gervin type career and Hardaway was a hall of famer as well.

Others are Antonio McDyess and Elton Brand...Andrew Toney and Bernard King as well.

There have been many in the NBA. The one that recently sticks out to me is Yao Ming. He was already a 25/10/2 type player and was still rapidly improving when injuries ruined his career. He would have been the best center for a 5 year span or possibly longer and would have been an even bigger star.

 

Drazen Petrovic was entering his peak, but got in the car accident, I really think he was going to be one of the superstars in the NBA during the 90s.
He did a great job in the Final match vs the Dream Team in 92.

 

Arydas Sabonis
Drazen Petrovic
Brandon Roy
Michael Dickerson

 

Michael Ray
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/zuVo6eL3Uvg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

i forgot about Kevin Johnson, Larry Johnson and Brad Daugherty. second tier/marginal All-Stars (or All-Star potential) Terrell Brandon, Allan Houston, Michael Redd, Glenn Robinson, Sean Elliott, Jamal Mashburn, Shawn Livingston, and Eddie Curry probably deserve a mention as well. a lot of those guys got ginormous contracts. Stephan Curry's ankle is a time bomb, and Chris Paul may have dodged a bullet. for a while, it looked like he might have had serious issues with his knee. Dwight Howard on the other hand, might not be so lucky. and who could forget inknown commodity Adam Morrison.

 

Do you know the difference between AIDS and HIV? People in 1991 didn't know either.

 

This, being HIV positive doesn't mean you have AIDS. HIV is a viral infection, AIDS is an immune system disease that is caused by HIV.

 

What about Shawn Kemp? He cut his own career short with drugs, baby momma drama, and being out of shape.

 

not sure if drug addiction is an injury..

 

Len Bias

 

When I think of what could have beens I instantly think of the 3 J's in Dallas in the mid 90's. Of course that would be Jason Kidd, Jamal Mashburn and Jim Jackson. By the time they were all in Dallas once Kidd was drafted in 94 they went 19-29 with all 3 on the court and Jackson and Mash each showed the potential to be elite scores as they both averaged around 25 points a game that season when all three were in the game. Jackson injured his ankle that season and Mash injured his knee I believe in the following season and they weren't the same players when they returned in Dallas. The following two seasons in Dallas the 3 J's only played 23 games together going 8-15 and each guy was moved in separate deals during the 96-97 season. Jackson never returned to form as he bounced from team to team and his play kept declining. Mash, was able to get very close to his previous form in the early 2000's with the Hornets on some decent playoff teams that are mostly forgotten about now.

But when talking about what should have been. The way Jackson and Mash played with Kidd during his rookie year it seemed as though that team was going to be something special for quite some time.

 

We coming back to memphis BBBBBAYYYA!

 

Agreed, the Johnson's were definitely cut short by injury. Larry had a nice post-injury career as a role player, though.

 

No Jackson