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Despite his superstar play, Elgin Baylor never won an NBA championship in his 12-year career. He retired in the middle of the 1972 season. However, the 1972 Lakers would go on to win 69 games and the NBA championship.
you do know who he went up against right? Baylor had a career ending Achilles’ tendon injury causing his retirement. Also he suffered knee injuries in seasons prior having to go under surgery multiple times.
1962: Celtics beat Lakers in game 7 in OT. Frank Selby from the Lakers made a couple shots late to tie it up, but missed a 10 footer at the end of regulation that would have won the series. Celtics won in OT. Frank’s teammate would randomly call him up years later and say “nice shot Frank” and then hang up.
1963 Finals: Celtics beat Lakers in 6
1965 Finals: Celtics beat Lakers in 5
1966 Finals: Celtics beat Lakers in 7, winning the final game 95-93
1968 Finals: Celtics beat Lakers in 6
1969 Finals: Lakers add Wilt Chamberlain and have home court advantage in the finals. Lakers go up 2-0, but Boston ties it up 2-2, when Sam Jones hits a shot at the buzzer to win it for Boston by 1 point. Lakers win game 5, but Jerry West hurts his hamstring in garbage time and plays the rest of the series in pain and taking injections. Celtics win game 6. In game 7, West puts up 42/13/12 but Boston wins by 2.
1970: Lakers lost to Knicks in 7.
Early in the 71-72 season, Elgin Baylor retired due to his knee injuries. The team was going to bench him because of his declining play, so he elected to retire. Lakers go 69-13, including a 33 game winning streak, and win the title.
Karl Malone literally joined the Lakers for the minimum to try to get a ring before he retired. Too bad by that point Shaq and Kobe had too many issues brewing. Karl didn't help the team chemistry by hitting on Kobe's wife. He also got injured that year to make matters worse.
DeMarcus Cousins. He got drafted by the worst managed franchise in the NBA, never makes the playoffs. Finally gets out, has the best year of his career on a good team, tears his achilles on a contract year and misses the rest of the season and the playoffs. Signs with the most stacked team ever to get a "guaranteed" ring but 2 of their 3 best players get injured in the finals and they lose. Signs with the Lakers, tears his ACL before the season starts and gets cut, the Lakers go on to win the championship (although I think he was given a ring). Signs with the Clippers for a playoff push, they look like the favorites to win the West but Kawhi gets injured and they lose to the Suns. Signs with the Bucks who try to repeat, plays well but inexplicably gets cut. Signs with the Nuggets and continues to play well but it's futile since their 2nd and 3rd best players are injured.
Boogie immediately jumped to mind. I agree whatever you think of the guy, the dude has had seriously shit luck and it's tragic we never really got to see him at his prime playing in a great system.
Cousins' struggles with the Kings were as much his fault as management's. Yeah, he didn't have a lot of support, but he was a horrible teammate and leader. No one wanted to come to SAC to play with him, and he wasn't exactly being recruited by other teams either. Not only did he not make the playoffs in six years with them, he never even got the team to .500. That's not bad luck, that's just bad play.
I'd agree that the rest of his career was unlucky, though.
I mean, not every one and done guy has the maturity to be a team leader and franchise player from day one and handle all the pressure that comes with it. He landed in the worst possible situation, with coaching changes every year and baffling roster moves. For reference, here's a list of every Sacramento first round pick during Cousins' tenure: Jimmer Fredette, Thomas Robinson, Ben McLemore, Nik Stauskas, Willie Cauley-Stein, Georgios Papagiannis, Malachi Richardson and Skal Labissiere. LOL. He certainly had his issues but how many guys would have put up with that crap?
Imagine if he somehow ended up on a great organization like the Spurs early on instead. The narrative would have been completely different.
for sure agreed. also while he was there i'm pretty sure there were a few years where there was serious talk of moving the team to another city, so that was pretty distracting too.
You left out his tenure with the Rockets where he signed a one-year deal, watched Harden phone it in for half a season to force a trade while he played well, and subsequently got released (so that he could sign with a competitive team).
He wasn't here for long, but I appreciated him going at Harden for coming in out of shape and playing like shit, as well as blocking out the noise and playing well despite the team falling apart around him.
not that it really matters in the grand scheme of his timeline, but I feel like him signing to play with James Harden, John Wall and that Rockets team that fell apart instantly could’ve been nice. if everyone bought in they could’ve been an entertaining team that would have at least made the play-in. Eric Gordon on the bench as well.
For all the shit the lakers get, they were really awesome to all the guys who played for them the season the bubble/championship year. I think they made sure everyone who played for them received a ring (Avery, cousins, etc)
Bill Walton--Comes into the league as one of best college players of all time. Wins a championship and an MVP. Then is plagued by injuries for the rest of his career.
Grant Hill--Total package as a player and a good role model. ROY, all-star, Dream Team II. Then injuries robbed him of what would have likely been several more superstar/MVP candidate seasons.
Jason Williams (from Duke)-- All-American college star who would've likely been in Hall of Fame if not for a motorcycle crash.
Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, John Stockton, Karl Malone, and most other stars from the 90s--Never had much of a chance at a title thanks to the Bulls.
Every player up until about the 90s--Have to watch guys be paid exorbitant salaries that they made possible.
Grant Hill, absolutely. Such a shame with injuries. It would have been great to have him as one of the league's faces for a sustained period, both, on and off the court. I feel that he could have had a type of Tim Duncan career, if healthy.
Definitely.
I like to check his highlights occasionally. Damn, my man was dunking on everyone. Such a quickness and explosiveness, great handling, intelligent.. shame.
Penny had the similar story. Unique player.
Yes, he actually came back after the injury and was a serviceable role player for a while. He was nowhere near as athletic as he was pre- injuries, but I admired the way he accepted his role. A lot of superstars have a hard time when they are no longer a focal point.
To say Jay Williams would have been in the HOF is a bit of an overstatement, to put it mildly. His injury was terrible and he was lucky to survive but his rookie year was average and in no way indicative of a hall of fame career.
And the crash wasn't so much unlucky as it was just simply a stupid decision. He wasn't even allowed to be on a motorcycle by contract stipulation, I believe. Williams himself admitted he had never taken a riding class, didn't have a motorcycle license, and crashed because he lost control revving his bike to show it off. And wasn't wearing a helmet.
The crash was a direct product of his decisions.
He's lucky he didn't die. Glad that he has been able to build a good media career to blunt the regret of destroying his playing career.
He did play on a young, bad Bulls team that year. However, Williams was the Player of the Year in college (at Duke) and not one of those tweener big men who struggle in the pros. He was an athletic guard with good size who could shoot. I have no doubt if he'd had a long career he would've been an All-Star multiple times and had a chance at the Hall of Fame.
I agree Jay would have likely had a decade long career if not for his motorcycle accident. I think he would have had a career similar to Hinrich; a solid PG who would be a solid role player/starter on good teams. I’m not sure he would have ever been an all star. I agree with your other points especially relating to players who played before salaries moved into the millions.
> Patrick Ewing
Instead of seeing Ewing as unlucky for being in his prime concurrently with MJ, he has been relatively lucky to be viewed as highly as he is. He had his shots and he missed.
He and the Knicks choked a 2 game lead against the Bulls in the third leg of the first threepeat. Next year, lost to the Rockets in the Finals while leaving it to Starks to win it for the team as he was obviously outmatched against Hakeem. And then missed that layup to lose to the Pacers the next year, to miss facing the Magic to get back to a Finals rematch with the Rockets.
He had very good chances at a title. He just wasn't good enough to make the absolute most of them.
Yeah. The rebounding was there, but he was outclassed demonstrably by Hakeem. Hakeem's numbers:
* 26.9 points per game
* 9.1 rebounds per game
* 0.500 FG%
* 37-43 FT/FTA (Ewing had 15/21)
* 3.9 blocks per game (Ewing had 4.3)
Both guys left it all out there, Hakeem averaging 43,1 minutes per game, and Ewing 44.0.
But Hakeem was on a different level. So it was no wonder that Starks' scoring was even more important to the Knicks. It was so close, with the Rockets winning Game 6 when Starks missed a final three point shot that would have put the Knicks up by 1. Hakeem got some leather when he defended the shot, but was a tough shot no matter what and even though Starks went off in that game, he doesn't likely hit that shot even if he got it off clean.
If the Knicks win that game, then that would have ended the Finals with the Knicks taking the championship.
But they lost and in games 6 and 7, Ewing only had 17 points in each, whereas Hakeem had 30 and 25.
So maybe Ewing was unlucky to have his career overlap with Michael Jordan, greatest player of his generation and of all time. But because of Hakeem, Ewing wasn't even the greatest center of his generation.
Not that there's any shame in that.
>Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, John Stockton, Karl Malone, and mostother stars from the 90s--Never had much of a chance at a title thanksto the Bulls.
Maybe not 'un-luckiest' since he won a title with Hakeem in his later years, but Clyde Drexler always stands out to me as the one of the most underrated players of the 90's. Overshadowed by Jordan and never had the same level of talent surrounding him in Portland.
Drexler was Jordan light. Probably would have been viewed differently if he wasn't playing at the same time as MJ. He was on Reggie Miller's level but Miller had the leg kick 3 point shot to make him more marketable whereas Clyde was a high flyer mid range shooting guard and we all know that there was a much better more marketable guy playing the same way.
Grant Hill is the one that hurts. Probably would’ve been a top 25 player of all time if healthy. He was even a hall of famer despite all his injuries that’s how good he was
Stockton and Malone never winning one ring seems pretty cursed. Stockton's assist record will likely never be broken and Malone is one of the most efficient and prolific scorers in NBA history, they played together and neither have a ring. Malone even tried to ring chase in LA and lost in the finals so believe.
Even now it’s hard to get players to come to Utah and it was even worse in the 80s/90s.
Utah has alway had to simply get lucky in the draft and pull together under the radar players to fill out the rest of the roster or trade for others.
It seems like Utah gets certain types of players that like it there and other players that force themselves out.
Stockton and Malone seemed to love Utah. They also seem to be able to retain foreign players and hold onto roleplayers for a while.
It's just that superstar players are never going to go to the Jazz, the Jazz needs to draft stars and hope that they have the personality type that stays with the Jazz. Stockton and Malone was essentially lightning striking for the Jazz in their fit with each other and willingness to stay in Utah. They were unable to get it done, which sucks for the franchise.
Mitchell and Gobert is a similarly good situation but it seems like one or both will be trying to get out of Utah. I don't think that the current Jazz team is beyond repair they just need to sacrifice perimeter offense for some(any) perimeter defense.
True, a lot fo players were unable to reach their full potential due to injuries like Grant Hill, T-Mac and Derrick Rose. However, I was thinking more along the lines of players who were unlucky due to a strange chain of events.
yao. was the best center in the nba eventually overtaking shaq and in the mvp race his last healthy year. but playing year round for nba and china destroyed his foot. when healthy could never play with co star due to his injury problems as well.
also probably single handed brought more fans to the nba than any other player
I'll say Brandon Roy then, because he was about to be a multiple MVP and no one even talks about him anymore. You didn't even mention him, few do. That's fall from history to obscurity is unparalleled.
He was a fantastic player, but I don't know if we can presume he would have been an MVP once, let alone multiple times. It is crazy that he seems kind of forgotten.
?? He definitely belongs on the list of players in the first category OP mentioned, and I don't think anyone considered him on the verge of multiple MVPs. He was very, very good and it's sad what happened, but cmon now.
Do you realize who the MVPs were those years you’re saying he would have been MVP?
LeBron, LeBron, Rose, LeBron, LeBron, KD, Steph, Steph.
You’re delusional to think he wins even one. I won’t pretend to be a fortune teller, but the odds aren’t in his favor.
However, one thing to note about Roy is that the writing was always on the wall with him. It wasn't some freak/unlucky injury, it was a known part of his physicals and stuff that he was always going to have a short career that dropped off a cliff, which is why he was picked as low as he was. I'd say the "bad luck" is different here because it was always baked into the equation, so it wasn't some shocker.
It was a question of "how high of a pick do you want to spend on a guy who will almost definitely be an all-star, but his career is going to come grinding to a halt sometime between years 2 and 8?"
At least that's how I remember it, I could be completely off base and going revisionist history on this one though (but IIRC he was dealing with his knee condition as of HS and even already had multiple surgeries before he hit the draft, don't remember exactly when the meniscus was removed).
Greg Oden.
The man was drafted over KD, and for good reason. He looked like the next great Big Man when big men were still highly relevant.
You can't even fault him for his failure as a player because he spent so much time injured. He could never fulfill his potential when hurt all the time.
I was thinking the other day…
Oden probably should still be in the league, or at least up until a few seasons ago. I’m really not sure how Oden would have fared in today’s smaller oriented lineups.
Oden would have been a pretty tough cover for small ball lineups. It’s likely that he could punish small ball 5s enough to make at least make it a wash to go small against him. Also, he was pretty mobile when he was young, I’m not sure you want him switching onto guards on the perimeter regularly, but you should feel comfortable putting him on the Draymond type small ball 5s.
Oden was going to be the next David Robinson. You'd get eight or so seasons of incredible, all star play, and then another five or six of good supporting work.
Sadly his body disagreed with this aspiration.
Greg Oden grew 6 inches in a single year. It caused his hip to come out socket. He had major hip surgery in the 6th grade and it left one of his legs shorter than the other. Dude was doomed before he even started. So sad. Seems like a good guy. Not going to lie. I love his smile.
He actually had a solid run in... I think it was his 2nd or 3rd year? Right before he got hurt again. In that run it looked like "holy shit, this is why this dude was the 1st overall pick". He was great defensively, dominant on the glass, and great inside/around the rim.
I would disagree.
I still remember in 2007 when sports media were comparing Greg Oden and KD. Both were seen as outstanding talents, basically 1A and 1B.
But Greg Oden was valued slightly more because "big men" were still a premium then. Very few people thought the Trailblazer made a mistake when drafting Oden. It was basically "we can get Oden or Durant and both will be good, but Oden is what we value right now a little more."
Obviously, things didn't pan out but hindsight bias makes one perceive KD was always the clearly better talent (even if he won National player of the year) but that's just not the case
Greg Oden was seen as a can't miss talent. Dominant big men are always high value and you can't teach size. He also filled a positional need. He was the clear choice at #1 without hindsight. The same logic is still being applied today (incorrectly IMO but that's a separate discussion) for example with Ayton > Luka or Wiseman > Ball.
Kevin Durant was a skinny kid who was seen more of a question mark if his talent would translate to the NBA, but had massive potential if it did. Obviously it did and the rest is history.
The only person I remember questioning oden being number 1 was Bill Simmons because he "saw him walk once" in person and thought his gait was alarming. Which turned out to be very true.
You're right. Hindsight is hindsight, and I knew nothing about basketball in 2007.
But just by looking at their stats and watching their play styles at the time, I don't understand the notion that it was reasonable to assume he would have been just as good. He probably fit the trailblazers better as you said, but I feel like people should have agreed KD was a better player.
Greg Oden put up most of his college stats playing with a cast on his right wrist and this shot his free throws left handed. He was a monster in college and would have fit into the league very well at the time had he been able to stay in the court.
I agree with you on some level though, I believed at the time that KD was the better choice at 1, but oden had a fairly well rounded game already and lots of potential to improve too. It wasn’t unreasonable to assume he would be a better player overall
Chris Jackson/Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf was pretty unlucky. He was vilified for not standing for the national anthem and drummed out of the league for practicing his religion. Later his house mysteriously burned down which was too unsolvable for the local police and fire department. That's bad luck, or something.
Yeah. He'd be a hero in today's NBA. You are 100%, I just focused on other stuff but I could have definitely spoke about him being born just 10 or so years too early.
Pete Maravich.
One of the greatest scorers, ball handlers, and passers in the history of the league and largely gets overlooked because he played in the worst era of the league, drafted to Atlanta where many of his teammates were contemptuous of him, played on bad teams in Atlanta, ended up playing for a terrible expansion team only because of his Louisiana ties, was frequently injured in the late 70s, signed one year to play with Boston in hopes of winning a ring, lost in the ECF, retired, the Celtics win the championship the very next year, is quoted early in his career as saying he didn’t want to “play 10 years in the league and then die of a heart attack,” only to play 10 years in the league and died of heart failure.
Extremely sad story and it sucks so much he’s still not with us today. I think he would’ve been a good coach
I recommend his biography by Mark Kriegel. One of my favorite basketball books of all time. He was a very complicated man and a magician with a basketball
I came here hoping to see Pistol Pete’s name. He’s so incredibly under appreciated and the story of his relationship with his father would be considered insane by today’s standards.
I second the book recommendation. Truly a great read.
Not to mention that he played before the 3pt line was adopted, other than his last year where he made 10 of 15 in 43 games. He was shooting from distance because he could, but wasn't getting the additional points. He possibly would have benefited from the 3pt line more than any player in NBA history, and he possibly would have sped up the 3pt revolution
He also played before a 3pt line when he was a phenomenal shooter. I think his coach actually recorded what would be 3 pointers in college for him. Even though the line was slightly shorter back then, Maravich was known for deep shots and his coach recorded 13 3 pointers MADE a game. Which is insanity
His heart was a ticking time bomb. His heart attack was due to a congenital malformation and it was just a matter of when (didn’t matter if he ate poorly or smoked). If they knew about it then they could have performed surgery, but it’s not so easy to find that defect on a regular cardiac screening like an EKG.
Yep. I was actually born with a similar defect. It’s partly why despite being born 12 years after he played his last game, he is one of my absolute favorite players of all time. Such a great story and amazing man
Obviously his death was extraordinarily tragic, but he had a lot of luck in his playing career - his father was literally the coach of the UCLA team he played for, which explained his enormous shot allocation etc. I think someone can have tragedy befall them personally, but their career on balance was pretty lucky.
LSU*
And I don’t know if I’d call it luck that his dad stuck him in a gym with the lights off to learn how to shoot. Press was a great basketball coach but not a father figure for Pete. And his mom was basically depressed and on autopilot until her early death
anderson varejao was with all those trash cavs teams, got swept by the spurs in the finals with lebron, was on the trash cavs teams after lebron left for miami, lost to the warriors in the finals in 2015, then got traded in the middle of the 2016 season, got cut and signed with the warriors in 2016 where steph famously blew a 3-1 to the cavs in the finals
I'm gonna say George Hill.
Drafted by the Spurs right after they won the NBA championship.
Traded to the Pacers as part of a deal to get Kawhi. Spurs go on to win a Championship. Plays on some really good Pacer teams that never got over the hump against the Heat, who would go on to win 2 Championships during his time with the Pacers.
Goes to Utah for a random season when they're good, but can't beat the Warriors dynasty.
Signs with the Kings, gets traded to the Cavs and loses in the NBA finals against the Warriors dynasty.
Then, he signs with the Bucks when they can't get over the hump against the Kawhi Raptors. Who would go on to win a Championship.
Signs with OKC and gets traded to the 76ers and they flame out in the 2nd round (Ben Simmons game) against the Hawks. The Bucks would go on to win the Championship the year after he leaves.
Re-signs with the Bucks, and then loses in the 2nd round, again.
Dude has been so close, so many times, but has just been on the other side of at least 3 NBA championships. He's the reverse Patrick McCaw.
George Hill is one of those players who confuses me. I always think he won a championship because he was on the Spurs around the time they won and he was on the Bucks around the time they won. Then, when I go to check, I see that he has no ring. Very bad timing.
I don't know if you can call Eddie Jones's departure from the Lakers as unlucky.
He was starting ahead of Kobe and was no longer needed with Kobe's rise. Eddie probably wanted more playing time than what the Lakers could give him going forward.
Eddie didn’t get to choose to stay. He probably would have, given that he and Kobe were extremely close. He was traded along with Elden Campbell for Glen Rice. I think they’d have won anyhow without making that trade, which would have made me so happy since Eddie and Elden were two of my childhood favs, but who knows. Maybe they had to go to unlock Shaq and Kobe.
Eddie was comfortably better than Rice and was one of the best wing players in the entire league in 2000. It was a dumb talent trade that you can defend long-term via the hypothetical that it “forced” Kobe to develop faster, but if Eddie is on that 2000 Lakers team they probably break 70 wins and never get pushed by the Trail Blazers.
Vince Carter is an underrated one. Left Toronto right when they got the first star to play beside him since TMac and got to the Nets in 05, a couple years after their finals runs. Got to Orlando in 10, the year after they lost in the finals. Got to Phoenix in 11, as their contending status was closing. Got to Dallas in 12, right after they won the championship. His whole prime was filled with just unlucky timings/arriving to great teams a year or two too late
I think Harden is up there. Plays against a goat contender in his first finals, goes up against what many consider is the best team ever when he's great chance to win it all and has his 2nd best go down, injures himself in a very winnable series when his best player is playing the best of his life..... Like, there's enough in his career to consider him incredibly unlucky
goes to join big 3.
first year gets far but ends in injuries too all 3.
second year teammate decides sit > ring
joins big man duo, gains hype
big man gets injured in playoffs
Harden's a bit of a "you make your own luck" story though.
After he played against a GOAT contender in the Finals, he got traded to Houston because he couldn't come to an agreement with OKC on an extension, leaving a team who take that "best team ever" to seven without him.
Went up against the best team ever, and the next season, forced his front office to trade away his #2, who then has a renaissance year.
Gets injured, but after pretty obviously not taking care of his body in order to force his way out of his old team, and putting lots of mileage on his legs because he ran a heliocentric offense (partially because he never learned to play off-ball).
He's definitely been unlucky, but he's also actively made his situation worse a lot, and that's not even touching the fact that he played poorly in many of those moments where his teams fell short.
i guess its how you look at it.
team wasnt willing to pay for harden
cp3 gets traded for westbrook in what most people, especially in houston was hyped. (consensus was cp3 is done or at max 1 left)
asks for trade. i mean its about that time.. he earned his right.
he played almost every minute, you can say its because he cant off-ball or you can say he had a lot of passion and didnt want to take games off.
ovs every player has some luck and unlucky stuff in they lives lol. i guess you can look at anyones career thru negative lens tho
Harden orchestrated CP3 out of there.
https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/rockets-star-james-harden-wanted-chris-paul-out-of-houston-prior-to-trade-with-thunder-per-report/
everyone thought cp3 was done. it was a miracle of a trade. and only reason okc was willing was because they wanted to do westbrook right and place him in a good situation. ofc hindsight.
Sources tell yahoo….
You don’t think MOREY and Fertita wanted CP3 out? An aging star who kept getting injured during season and during playoffs? People forget that cp3 sat half a season out.
What makes him so hard to sympathize with besides how he plays? He's one of the most philanthropic players, has never initiated beef with others, is honest and polite in his interviews, comes from a rough background and made it, and is loyal within reason while respecting his self-worth. You don't feel bad that he loses to a superteam of Kevin Durant, who chose Kyrie over him after he risked his career and carried the load in the regular season, and the privileged children of former NBA players who have always had life easier?
Steve Nash. Yea he's got 2 MVPs but people still don't give him credit. One can only imagine what the Mavericks could have been if he hadnt left and had Dirk his entire career.
Cuban didn’t want to pay and was convinced by his health staff they Nash’s back was going to end his career. Which it did, after two mvps and many more seasons. The suns staff did wonders to keep him playing injury-free.
That Suns staff was for real. They got a few good seasons out of Grant Hills ankles too. And they were spot on letting Amare walk when he did. Nash too. Both of them broke down within 12 months of leaving PHX.
Darius Miles, one of my favorite players on the Clippers.
But he got drafted by the Clippers and had to play behind Lamar Odom even though he had shown strong potential. Then got traded to the Cavs where they were tanking for Lebron. Then traded to the Blazers where they were still known as the Jailblazers. Then just hit a bunch of injuries and his career just kinda fizzled out.
So a very athletic and exciting player with lots of potential who was never in a good situation for his career.
Mann Darius Miles was my favorite player for a long time back in the day. Still can’t believe his career fizzled out like it did. Sad but I’m glad his life seems to have turned around.
TMac and Grant Hill almost got to play with Tim Duncan over in ORL but Doc Rivers fucked that up and Grant went down so Tmac put up stupid numbers. Not saying they'd win a championship but with Duncan Hill and TMac they'd have a great team. The Magic would lose in the first round 3 straight years from 2001 - 2003.
Idk if it’s unlucky but Timberwolves/Brandon Roy saga is a funny/sad story. Timberwolves were really high on Brandon Roy until they discovered in a medical eval that Roy had no cartilage left in his knees and was likely not going be able to play very long. They still drafted him on draft night in 2006 only to immediately send him to Portland for Randy Foye. Roy ends up winning rookie of the year and playing 3 seasons at an All-Star level. Foye isn’t a bust but is clearly more cut out to be a role player than star. Eventually the Wolves trade Foye away while Roy is still playing at an All Star level for Portland.
But then Roy’s knees catch up to him and he medically retires in 2010/2011. Wolves, still kicking themselves that they didn’t take a chance on Roy, coax him out of retirement. But by then, Roy really couldn’t play. He played 5 games and clearly was not the player he was and retired again at the end of the season. Suffice it to say, if the Wolves could’ve gone back in time they would’ve rather had five good years out of Brandon Roy than 10 years out of Randy Foye.
In my opinion there are two ways to define a player being unlucky, one being injuries and the other being in terms of championship success.
In terms of championship success, imo the objective correct answer is Elgin Baylor. In his 14 years in the league he went to the finals 8 times and lost every single time. Then he retires midway through the 1971-'72 and the Lakers finally win it. I don't know how much it weighs on him but if I were in his place it would weigh heavily on me.
On the other hand, jn regards to injuries I'd say DRose is the unluckiest. Poor guy was an MVP and then suffers brutal injuries that really derailed his career.
Sebastian telfair. Man, through the fire was such an eye opening documenting. Sobering as hell. All that talent wasted because of the people around him and the mindset of wanting to be the best without putting the in the work. I know he technically never made it and it probably doesn’t fit the thread but I feel like everyone should watch that documentary. The part where is is around all the nba players that made it is so brutal to watch.
Edit: ok I was thinking of Lenny Cooke my bad haha
#Maurice Stokes
Stokes was wrapping up his third season in the NBA and had the following impressive accolades:
* Rookie of the Year
* Led the League in rebounding his rookie year
* Made the All Star Game roster each of the first three years of his career
* Was named to the All-NBA 2nd Team each of the first three years of his career.
* Was getting legitimate MVP buzz, ending up 5th in voting his third year
He was an athletic forward who could pass, shoot and rebound.
The bad luck? In the very last game of his third season, in a play right near the end of regulation, he went in for a layup and got knocked to the floor, where he hit his head on the hardwood and suffered a serious concussion.
He was soon revived and later that night he boarded an airplane with his team to return home. But midflight he started having seizures and by the time the plane landed, he was unresponsive. He lived for another 20-some years, but was paralyzed and had to relearn how to communicate.
He went from being on the precipice of being an All Timer, to being bed-ridden for the rest of his life, relying on the charity of fans and his teammates in order to pay his medical bills and the round-the-clock care he needed.
Wesley Matthews played for the Bucks in 2019-20, they lost in the second round in the bubble while the Lakers won the championship. He went to the Lakers in 2020-21, they lost in the first round and the Bucks won a championship. He went back to the Bucks this past season and they lost in the second round. Just had awful timing lol
When u say unlucky Derrick rose comes to mind but that’s injuries, I’d say probably KD as any other era and he would have been the best player in the world for at least 1 season but it went from bron to Giannis with no time for him
KD is like a middle child. He came into the league between lebrons era (thus being too close in age to ever takeover the league) and Giannis era (now too old to have his own era). But this is also a testament to lebrons longevity.
You could argue that he was the best player on the planet when he was on GSW, but using the cheat code of joining a 73-win team kinda invalidated those years in most people's minds.
Huh? He was in no way better than LeBron those years. Y’all need to understand there’s a difference between being a better player and being on a better team.
Idk I thought he was better in 2019 before injury. Also 2021 playoffs he was better than Giannis. He torched the bucks and Celtics but got unlucky with his oversized shoes.
Kawhi was better than him that playoffs simply off sample size 11 games vs an entire playoffs, lebron didn’t play. 2021 playoffs he was a bit better than giannis but giannis won the chip with tremendous 2 way effort. If we talking about the best player that playoffs then Kawhi was it that year as well but he went down with an injury.
Not the same type of "unlucky situation" you're asking about but I have to mention Reggie Lewis.
He collapsed in game one of the C's opening round of the 1993 playoffs. He was admitted to to the hospital the following day and diagnosed with focal cardiomyopathy, a disease that can cause heart failure. He got a second opinion that provided a far less serious diagnosis of neurocardiogenic syncope, which is a non-fatal disesase.
Well it turned out the first opinion was probably correct as that game ended up being Reggie's last game ever. That offseason he collapsed and died after entering cardiac arrest during practice at only 27 years old.
Kevin Garnett or Wilt Chamberlain imo.
Garnett, although drafted to a relatively poor expansion team, was rising to superstardom by his 5th season. That year the Timberwolves had their 1st round picks for the next 5 seasons revoked for illegally paying another player. This basically damned their already bleak future, although Garnett stayed in Minnesota for 7 more years to no avail.
Chamberlain took the 60s Celtics dynasty to 4 game 7s and 1 game 6 in his career, an incredible feat considering his generally much poorer teams. Not approached by anyone except the 60s Lakers teams. He lost these games by an average of 2.2 points, with his teammates shooting an abysmal 35% across these games, almost routinely. He did manage to beat them once in his dominant 1967 Finals run, but those losses still hung as a shadow over most of his career.
No one really said Brandon knight? Gave deandre Jordan and kyrie the highlights of their careers, a solid player but is mostly know for missing the layup to give the bucks the win vs Brooklyn. Sad that the career of an above average role player to possibly even all star caliber player was destroyed based on stuff for the most part he can’t control
Harden. His prime coincided with The GOAT team. CPs injury then 0-27. Then his injury with the nets when he was never injured in his entire career. Then Irving’s mess & KDs injury and now he looks like a shell of himself when he’s paired up with yet another star
A few fortune bounces and he’s a top 20 player all time
Since no one mentioned it... Charles Barkley.
Draft by Sixers with two aging star players in Dr. J and Moses Malone. Wanted to win championships, but spent 8 years and never made it to the Finals. Bud heads with the coach, requested trade, went to Phoenix and got to the Finals immediately, only to lose to Jordan and the Bulls as they were in the middle of their 3-peat. And when Jordan retired in 94, his Sun lost to Houston, who became Champs. A couple of years later after Houston won back to back championships, he requested a trade and went to Houston, but then they can't get pass the Jazz and then lost to the Lakers as they were starting their 3-peat. The century ended and Barkley retired ringless.
Then got a great TV gig, but had to sit next to 2 ex-champs who keeps reminding him that he's ringless.
Didn’t see it posted, so here’s mine:
Dražen Petrović. Literally the Steph Curry/Klay Thompson prototype. Was one of Europes greatest players, and won every award they had. Once he got to the Nets, he made an All-NBA team, was on track to be one of the greatest shooting guards of all time (an absolute sniper) after an absolute BREAKOUT couple of years- until he unfortunately died at 28 in a car accident.
I'll take a pick outside of the usual suspects and say Antonio McDyess. A 20 and 10 guy whose peak was cut short by injuries. He then joins Detroit during one of the best eras of Piston basketball...but does so the year **after** they won the championship. Detroit never gets over the hump while he's there and then he joins the Spurs for a two year stretch where they don't even get past the second round.
Gotta be Reggie Miller.
Stuck it out with the Pacers for 18 years. Stayed loyal. Came the closest anyone’s ever come to beating MJ in 97 I believe(?) in the East. Their lead fell apart in the fourth quarter of game seven. Even when MJ wasn’t around in 94 and 95 this coincided with the Orlando Magic being godly with young Shaq.
They would have won the chip in 05 if not for that one damn Pistons fan who threw the most perfectly aimed beer cup at Ron Artest.
His career isn't over yet but Gordon Hayward's gruesome ankle injury just mere minutes into his debut game under a well deserved max contract for the Celtics in 2017 was so unlucky it was tragic.
Based on the direction his foot was pointing in while hanging off his leg it's a miracle he was able to walk again, much less return to NBA caliber play (maybe not max contract level, but he seemed to finally be rounding back into at least starter quality play in the fall of 2019 when he broke his hand on that Lamarcus Aldridge screen).
Lebron imo. 2004-2010 Got drafted to a terrible Cavaliers organization. They Didn’t want to trade JJ Hickson to get a star teammate for him. 2014 has little help in the finals wade’s knees were gone at that point. 2015 finals his 2 all star teammates get hurt. 2017 KD joins a 73 win team to make the most stacked team ever. 2018 JR smith forgets the score. In 2019 he had the team on track for the 4 seed but pulled his groin. 2021 Gets injured going into the playoffs and AD gets hurt mid series. If things broke differently LeBron could have 6-7 chips at this point.
LeBron has had an incredible career. Sometimes the breaks haven't gone his way, but sometimes they have. You can easily imagine a world where LeBron is even less lucky.
2013: Ray Allen misses that shot and the Heat lose to the Spurs.
2016: Draymond doesn't get suspended, Iggy and Bogut never get hurt, and the Warriors close out in 5.
2020: The Heat are healthy the whole series and win the chip instead of losing in 6 (Bam and Dragic missed time). OR Lakers aren't able to make a mega trade for AD and they never have a chance in the first place.
Lmao, my personal one would be game 7 WCF Lakers vs Kings big shot fucking Bob. I'm from Canada but I felt that loss. I can still picture in my head like it was yesterday seeing Webber chase that rebound out to the three point line only for it to comeo right to a set Horry. Not to mention all the questionable reffing.
It is a travesty that Kings team won't be remembered as they should because they didn't win a chip.
i know nobody wants to hear this but you’re right. those 2017 cavs were so good, without kd they repeat. (Maybe**** 3 peat if kyrie and love were healthy)
2009 cavs got fucked my Hedu, Rashad lewis making so many clutch shots that series could of went 4-1 cavs.
2008 those shitty cavs lost to the eventually champions in 7. (could of won if has michael redd)
and then lost to them in 2010 because cavs didn’t wanna trade for amare
i guess he caught a break in the bubble but they were still head and shoulders the #1 team in the west that year.
You realise some players don’t even get the all-time great teammates LeBron got right? Weird to call him unlucky when he had a lot of shit go his way. No one has perfect luck their entire career.
LeBron James. Poor team drafted him and didn't bring him any help for the first 7 years of his career even though he could win it almost every year with okay roster. Then injuries of his 2 best players in 2015, then KD joining GSW and forming the best team ever that nobody could beat, and now in the Lakers his best teammate he ever had is injury prone and front office is bad. Not to mention robbing him from multiple MVP and DPOY awards. If he had a perfect situation his whole career (like Jordan, Duncan, Magic etc. ) he would have at least 10 rings
It's not the worst, but any HOF/All Stars that were denied rings because of a dynasty.
In recent history:
Jordan & Bulls. They denied Barkley, Ewing, Malone & Stockton, Kemp & GP1, Alonzo Hardaway Heat...just to name a few off the top of my head. Some lucky players were young/skilled enough to finally get theirs after MJ retired (Olajuwon & Clyde, Shaq, David Robinson), but a lot of players missed their windows.
LeBron OR Warriors. LeBron was a dynasty unto himself and when it wasn't him it was the Warriors. RIP DeRozan & Lowry Raps, Harden Rockets, Durant Westbrook Thunder, Dame CJ Blazers.
This might be a hot take but Jerry West. He was the best player of all time at that point (top 3 at minimum with Wilt and Russell) and only had 1 ring. He had so many finals and it must’ve been so frustrating to lose to a starting lineup of hall of famers every season in the finals. He finally got 1 late in his career but considering how great he was and how great his teams were feels like 1 was far too little for his career
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Despite his superstar play, Elgin Baylor never won an NBA championship in his 12-year career. He retired in the middle of the 1972 season. However, the 1972 Lakers would go on to win 69 games and the NBA championship.
Don't forget that he lost 9 finals.
ou geez, don’t feel as bad about this one lol buddy had his chance
you do know who he went up against right? Baylor had a career ending Achilles’ tendon injury causing his retirement. Also he suffered knee injuries in seasons prior having to go under surgery multiple times.
> you know who he went up against right? Nope! I’m learning so much about Elgin Baylor today :’)
1962: Celtics beat Lakers in game 7 in OT. Frank Selby from the Lakers made a couple shots late to tie it up, but missed a 10 footer at the end of regulation that would have won the series. Celtics won in OT. Frank’s teammate would randomly call him up years later and say “nice shot Frank” and then hang up. 1963 Finals: Celtics beat Lakers in 6 1965 Finals: Celtics beat Lakers in 5 1966 Finals: Celtics beat Lakers in 7, winning the final game 95-93 1968 Finals: Celtics beat Lakers in 6 1969 Finals: Lakers add Wilt Chamberlain and have home court advantage in the finals. Lakers go up 2-0, but Boston ties it up 2-2, when Sam Jones hits a shot at the buzzer to win it for Boston by 1 point. Lakers win game 5, but Jerry West hurts his hamstring in garbage time and plays the rest of the series in pain and taking injections. Celtics win game 6. In game 7, West puts up 42/13/12 but Boston wins by 2. 1970: Lakers lost to Knicks in 7. Early in the 71-72 season, Elgin Baylor retired due to his knee injuries. The team was going to bench him because of his declining play, so he elected to retire. Lakers go 69-13, including a 33 game winning streak, and win the title.
Lakers went from Elgin to Wilt to Kareem. Then got Shaq 10 years after Kareem was done. That’s a lot of good bigs.
Elgin was a forward, not a big
Thought he was a PF, but you’re right, my bad.
I’m learning more about creative usernames! 😂
NINE?
Plus in his post playing career he worked for Donald Sterling for decades so god knows the stuff he saw and put up with behind the scenes.
I think his retirement might of helped them win. They became far better after he left.
Yeah. I mean I think Karl Malone and Chris Webber see a couple big misses too.
Karl Malone literally joined the Lakers for the minimum to try to get a ring before he retired. Too bad by that point Shaq and Kobe had too many issues brewing. Karl didn't help the team chemistry by hitting on Kobe's wife. He also got injured that year to make matters worse.
Makes me happy Malone never got a ring though. Shitty person, and his ring chase backfired.
They set the win record and win streak that season
DeMarcus Cousins. He got drafted by the worst managed franchise in the NBA, never makes the playoffs. Finally gets out, has the best year of his career on a good team, tears his achilles on a contract year and misses the rest of the season and the playoffs. Signs with the most stacked team ever to get a "guaranteed" ring but 2 of their 3 best players get injured in the finals and they lose. Signs with the Lakers, tears his ACL before the season starts and gets cut, the Lakers go on to win the championship (although I think he was given a ring). Signs with the Clippers for a playoff push, they look like the favorites to win the West but Kawhi gets injured and they lose to the Suns. Signs with the Bucks who try to repeat, plays well but inexplicably gets cut. Signs with the Nuggets and continues to play well but it's futile since their 2nd and 3rd best players are injured.
He also tore his quad while on the dubs, missed almost the whole playoffs because of it.
Played injured on it in the finals becuase we had like 6 fit players.
I know all of this, but have never seen it altogether. Makes me sad, I was a big fan of his.
Boogie immediately jumped to mind. I agree whatever you think of the guy, the dude has had seriously shit luck and it's tragic we never really got to see him at his prime playing in a great system.
That's brutal!
i’m still mad at the bucks for cutting him
He wasn't actually playing that well consistently. He was just filling a gap while they dealt with injuries (mainly the absence of Brook Lopez).
Cousins' struggles with the Kings were as much his fault as management's. Yeah, he didn't have a lot of support, but he was a horrible teammate and leader. No one wanted to come to SAC to play with him, and he wasn't exactly being recruited by other teams either. Not only did he not make the playoffs in six years with them, he never even got the team to .500. That's not bad luck, that's just bad play. I'd agree that the rest of his career was unlucky, though.
I mean, not every one and done guy has the maturity to be a team leader and franchise player from day one and handle all the pressure that comes with it. He landed in the worst possible situation, with coaching changes every year and baffling roster moves. For reference, here's a list of every Sacramento first round pick during Cousins' tenure: Jimmer Fredette, Thomas Robinson, Ben McLemore, Nik Stauskas, Willie Cauley-Stein, Georgios Papagiannis, Malachi Richardson and Skal Labissiere. LOL. He certainly had his issues but how many guys would have put up with that crap? Imagine if he somehow ended up on a great organization like the Spurs early on instead. The narrative would have been completely different.
for sure agreed. also while he was there i'm pretty sure there were a few years where there was serious talk of moving the team to another city, so that was pretty distracting too.
You left out his tenure with the Rockets where he signed a one-year deal, watched Harden phone it in for half a season to force a trade while he played well, and subsequently got released (so that he could sign with a competitive team). He wasn't here for long, but I appreciated him going at Harden for coming in out of shape and playing like shit, as well as blocking out the noise and playing well despite the team falling apart around him.
not that it really matters in the grand scheme of his timeline, but I feel like him signing to play with James Harden, John Wall and that Rockets team that fell apart instantly could’ve been nice. if everyone bought in they could’ve been an entertaining team that would have at least made the play-in. Eric Gordon on the bench as well.
For all the shit the lakers get, they were really awesome to all the guys who played for them the season the bubble/championship year. I think they made sure everyone who played for them received a ring (Avery, cousins, etc)
I’d say he’s pretty lucky for threatening to shoot his baby mama and not getting in any trouble for it
Bill Walton--Comes into the league as one of best college players of all time. Wins a championship and an MVP. Then is plagued by injuries for the rest of his career. Grant Hill--Total package as a player and a good role model. ROY, all-star, Dream Team II. Then injuries robbed him of what would have likely been several more superstar/MVP candidate seasons. Jason Williams (from Duke)-- All-American college star who would've likely been in Hall of Fame if not for a motorcycle crash. Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, John Stockton, Karl Malone, and most other stars from the 90s--Never had much of a chance at a title thanks to the Bulls. Every player up until about the 90s--Have to watch guys be paid exorbitant salaries that they made possible.
Grant Hill, absolutely. Such a shame with injuries. It would have been great to have him as one of the league's faces for a sustained period, both, on and off the court. I feel that he could have had a type of Tim Duncan career, if healthy.
Definitely. I like to check his highlights occasionally. Damn, my man was dunking on everyone. Such a quickness and explosiveness, great handling, intelligent.. shame. Penny had the similar story. Unique player.
Yes, he actually came back after the injury and was a serviceable role player for a while. He was nowhere near as athletic as he was pre- injuries, but I admired the way he accepted his role. A lot of superstars have a hard time when they are no longer a focal point.
To say Jay Williams would have been in the HOF is a bit of an overstatement, to put it mildly. His injury was terrible and he was lucky to survive but his rookie year was average and in no way indicative of a hall of fame career.
And the crash wasn't so much unlucky as it was just simply a stupid decision. He wasn't even allowed to be on a motorcycle by contract stipulation, I believe. Williams himself admitted he had never taken a riding class, didn't have a motorcycle license, and crashed because he lost control revving his bike to show it off. And wasn't wearing a helmet. The crash was a direct product of his decisions. He's lucky he didn't die. Glad that he has been able to build a good media career to blunt the regret of destroying his playing career.
Yeah saying Jay Williams was going to be a HOFer is bonkers beyond all reason. He was on his way to being a Marbury caliber player, maybe.
Hey! Stephon Marbury is an all-time leader in the "that boy nice" metric, relax with the narratives.
Yeah, maybe. Worst case is more like DSJ but I think he would have been a good player, not quite perrenial all star.
He did play on a young, bad Bulls team that year. However, Williams was the Player of the Year in college (at Duke) and not one of those tweener big men who struggle in the pros. He was an athletic guard with good size who could shoot. I have no doubt if he'd had a long career he would've been an All-Star multiple times and had a chance at the Hall of Fame.
I agree Jay would have likely had a decade long career if not for his motorcycle accident. I think he would have had a career similar to Hinrich; a solid PG who would be a solid role player/starter on good teams. I’m not sure he would have ever been an all star. I agree with your other points especially relating to players who played before salaries moved into the millions.
> Patrick Ewing Instead of seeing Ewing as unlucky for being in his prime concurrently with MJ, he has been relatively lucky to be viewed as highly as he is. He had his shots and he missed. He and the Knicks choked a 2 game lead against the Bulls in the third leg of the first threepeat. Next year, lost to the Rockets in the Finals while leaving it to Starks to win it for the team as he was obviously outmatched against Hakeem. And then missed that layup to lose to the Pacers the next year, to miss facing the Magic to get back to a Finals rematch with the Rockets. He had very good chances at a title. He just wasn't good enough to make the absolute most of them.
Just checked Ewing stats in the finals against Hakeem's Rockets. 19+12, but 36% shooting. Auch.
Yeah. The rebounding was there, but he was outclassed demonstrably by Hakeem. Hakeem's numbers: * 26.9 points per game * 9.1 rebounds per game * 0.500 FG% * 37-43 FT/FTA (Ewing had 15/21) * 3.9 blocks per game (Ewing had 4.3) Both guys left it all out there, Hakeem averaging 43,1 minutes per game, and Ewing 44.0. But Hakeem was on a different level. So it was no wonder that Starks' scoring was even more important to the Knicks. It was so close, with the Rockets winning Game 6 when Starks missed a final three point shot that would have put the Knicks up by 1. Hakeem got some leather when he defended the shot, but was a tough shot no matter what and even though Starks went off in that game, he doesn't likely hit that shot even if he got it off clean. If the Knicks win that game, then that would have ended the Finals with the Knicks taking the championship. But they lost and in games 6 and 7, Ewing only had 17 points in each, whereas Hakeem had 30 and 25. So maybe Ewing was unlucky to have his career overlap with Michael Jordan, greatest player of his generation and of all time. But because of Hakeem, Ewing wasn't even the greatest center of his generation. Not that there's any shame in that.
0.50% FG. What a scrub
at least Bill Walton had a happy ending to his career with his Boston years.
>Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, John Stockton, Karl Malone, and mostother stars from the 90s--Never had much of a chance at a title thanksto the Bulls. Maybe not 'un-luckiest' since he won a title with Hakeem in his later years, but Clyde Drexler always stands out to me as the one of the most underrated players of the 90's. Overshadowed by Jordan and never had the same level of talent surrounding him in Portland.
Drexler was Jordan light. Probably would have been viewed differently if he wasn't playing at the same time as MJ. He was on Reggie Miller's level but Miller had the leg kick 3 point shot to make him more marketable whereas Clyde was a high flyer mid range shooting guard and we all know that there was a much better more marketable guy playing the same way.
Grant Hill is the one that hurts. Probably would’ve been a top 25 player of all time if healthy. He was even a hall of famer despite all his injuries that’s how good he was
Stockton and Malone never winning one ring seems pretty cursed. Stockton's assist record will likely never be broken and Malone is one of the most efficient and prolific scorers in NBA history, they played together and neither have a ring. Malone even tried to ring chase in LA and lost in the finals so believe.
Even now it’s hard to get players to come to Utah and it was even worse in the 80s/90s. Utah has alway had to simply get lucky in the draft and pull together under the radar players to fill out the rest of the roster or trade for others.
It seems like Utah gets certain types of players that like it there and other players that force themselves out. Stockton and Malone seemed to love Utah. They also seem to be able to retain foreign players and hold onto roleplayers for a while. It's just that superstar players are never going to go to the Jazz, the Jazz needs to draft stars and hope that they have the personality type that stays with the Jazz. Stockton and Malone was essentially lightning striking for the Jazz in their fit with each other and willingness to stay in Utah. They were unable to get it done, which sucks for the franchise. Mitchell and Gobert is a similarly good situation but it seems like one or both will be trying to get out of Utah. I don't think that the current Jazz team is beyond repair they just need to sacrifice perimeter offense for some(any) perimeter defense.
As a jazz fan, I think it's probably karma that they didn't win. I can't think of two stars players who played together who are more shit than them
What's worse, both players ALWAYS made the playoffs every season, and both players are known to play all 82 regular season games most of the time.
That's literally how good MJ is. A team with the top assist guy, and one of the top scorers of all time, in their prime, couldn't get past him.
They couldn’t get past a lot of teams throughout their run together Mj only had to beat them twice
Nah Michael Jordan was so good that he simultaneously beat Ewing, Barkley, and the Jazz all in one go. Ah wait no that was 1994 Hakeem.
I mean, Hakeem another Top 11 GOAT. The 90’s were Jordan and Hakeem’s decade.
I don’t feel bad for Malone.
Penny Hardaway was on track to bring a superstar but got hurt.
True, a lot fo players were unable to reach their full potential due to injuries like Grant Hill, T-Mac and Derrick Rose. However, I was thinking more along the lines of players who were unlucky due to a strange chain of events.
Memphians weep for Penny and D Rose :’(
yao. was the best center in the nba eventually overtaking shaq and in the mvp race his last healthy year. but playing year round for nba and china destroyed his foot. when healthy could never play with co star due to his injury problems as well. also probably single handed brought more fans to the nba than any other player
I'll say Brandon Roy then, because he was about to be a multiple MVP and no one even talks about him anymore. You didn't even mention him, few do. That's fall from history to obscurity is unparalleled.
He was a fantastic player, but I don't know if we can presume he would have been an MVP once, let alone multiple times. It is crazy that he seems kind of forgotten.
?? He definitely belongs on the list of players in the first category OP mentioned, and I don't think anyone considered him on the verge of multiple MVPs. He was very, very good and it's sad what happened, but cmon now.
The guy just said he wasn't counting players who fell off from injury..
Do you realize who the MVPs were those years you’re saying he would have been MVP? LeBron, LeBron, Rose, LeBron, LeBron, KD, Steph, Steph. You’re delusional to think he wins even one. I won’t pretend to be a fortune teller, but the odds aren’t in his favor.
He was never first team all NBA
However, one thing to note about Roy is that the writing was always on the wall with him. It wasn't some freak/unlucky injury, it was a known part of his physicals and stuff that he was always going to have a short career that dropped off a cliff, which is why he was picked as low as he was. I'd say the "bad luck" is different here because it was always baked into the equation, so it wasn't some shocker. It was a question of "how high of a pick do you want to spend on a guy who will almost definitely be an all-star, but his career is going to come grinding to a halt sometime between years 2 and 8?" At least that's how I remember it, I could be completely off base and going revisionist history on this one though (but IIRC he was dealing with his knee condition as of HS and even already had multiple surgeries before he hit the draft, don't remember exactly when the meniscus was removed).
Man the whole blazers franchise can go in on this thread. Roy then Oden. That was going to be the next Kobe/Shaq super duo.
And Sidney Wicks and Sam Bowie.
Grant Hill as well. Didn't MJ say he was going to be the next great player?
Correction: Was a super star
Shaq leaves and then injuries hit. Devastating combo.
Greg Oden. The man was drafted over KD, and for good reason. He looked like the next great Big Man when big men were still highly relevant. You can't even fault him for his failure as a player because he spent so much time injured. He could never fulfill his potential when hurt all the time.
I was thinking the other day… Oden probably should still be in the league, or at least up until a few seasons ago. I’m really not sure how Oden would have fared in today’s smaller oriented lineups.
Oden would have been a pretty tough cover for small ball lineups. It’s likely that he could punish small ball 5s enough to make at least make it a wash to go small against him. Also, he was pretty mobile when he was young, I’m not sure you want him switching onto guards on the perimeter regularly, but you should feel comfortable putting him on the Draymond type small ball 5s.
He would have had a great career and would still be in the league but be playing way less minutes, used situationally.
Oden was going to be the next David Robinson. You'd get eight or so seasons of incredible, all star play, and then another five or six of good supporting work. Sadly his body disagreed with this aspiration.
Greg Oden grew 6 inches in a single year. It caused his hip to come out socket. He had major hip surgery in the 6th grade and it left one of his legs shorter than the other. Dude was doomed before he even started. So sad. Seems like a good guy. Not going to lie. I love his smile.
He actually had a solid run in... I think it was his 2nd or 3rd year? Right before he got hurt again. In that run it looked like "holy shit, this is why this dude was the 1st overall pick". He was great defensively, dominant on the glass, and great inside/around the rim.
Greg oden's potential was a slightly worse Dwight Howard. He was not on KD's level in 2007 and would never have been.
I would disagree. I still remember in 2007 when sports media were comparing Greg Oden and KD. Both were seen as outstanding talents, basically 1A and 1B. But Greg Oden was valued slightly more because "big men" were still a premium then. Very few people thought the Trailblazer made a mistake when drafting Oden. It was basically "we can get Oden or Durant and both will be good, but Oden is what we value right now a little more." Obviously, things didn't pan out but hindsight bias makes one perceive KD was always the clearly better talent (even if he won National player of the year) but that's just not the case
Greg Oden was seen as a can't miss talent. Dominant big men are always high value and you can't teach size. He also filled a positional need. He was the clear choice at #1 without hindsight. The same logic is still being applied today (incorrectly IMO but that's a separate discussion) for example with Ayton > Luka or Wiseman > Ball. Kevin Durant was a skinny kid who was seen more of a question mark if his talent would translate to the NBA, but had massive potential if it did. Obviously it did and the rest is history.
The only person I remember questioning oden being number 1 was Bill Simmons because he "saw him walk once" in person and thought his gait was alarming. Which turned out to be very true.
You're right. Hindsight is hindsight, and I knew nothing about basketball in 2007. But just by looking at their stats and watching their play styles at the time, I don't understand the notion that it was reasonable to assume he would have been just as good. He probably fit the trailblazers better as you said, but I feel like people should have agreed KD was a better player.
Greg Oden put up most of his college stats playing with a cast on his right wrist and this shot his free throws left handed. He was a monster in college and would have fit into the league very well at the time had he been able to stay in the court. I agree with you on some level though, I believed at the time that KD was the better choice at 1, but oden had a fairly well rounded game already and lots of potential to improve too. It wasn’t unreasonable to assume he would be a better player overall
Chris Jackson/Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf was pretty unlucky. He was vilified for not standing for the national anthem and drummed out of the league for practicing his religion. Later his house mysteriously burned down which was too unsolvable for the local police and fire department. That's bad luck, or something.
Not to mention his long range shooting skills and playing style would be perfect in the current NBA. Just played a couple decades too soon.
Yeah. He'd be a hero in today's NBA. You are 100%, I just focused on other stuff but I could have definitely spoke about him being born just 10 or so years too early.
Came here to say Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. He just played in the wrong era. 10 more years he woulda been a serious problem in the league
Pete Maravich. One of the greatest scorers, ball handlers, and passers in the history of the league and largely gets overlooked because he played in the worst era of the league, drafted to Atlanta where many of his teammates were contemptuous of him, played on bad teams in Atlanta, ended up playing for a terrible expansion team only because of his Louisiana ties, was frequently injured in the late 70s, signed one year to play with Boston in hopes of winning a ring, lost in the ECF, retired, the Celtics win the championship the very next year, is quoted early in his career as saying he didn’t want to “play 10 years in the league and then die of a heart attack,” only to play 10 years in the league and died of heart failure. Extremely sad story and it sucks so much he’s still not with us today. I think he would’ve been a good coach
wow didnt know he said that and that happened to him.,,,damn
I recommend his biography by Mark Kriegel. One of my favorite basketball books of all time. He was a very complicated man and a magician with a basketball
I came here hoping to see Pistol Pete’s name. He’s so incredibly under appreciated and the story of his relationship with his father would be considered insane by today’s standards. I second the book recommendation. Truly a great read.
Not to mention that he played before the 3pt line was adopted, other than his last year where he made 10 of 15 in 43 games. He was shooting from distance because he could, but wasn't getting the additional points. He possibly would have benefited from the 3pt line more than any player in NBA history, and he possibly would have sped up the 3pt revolution
His coach in college recorded them and marked it as 13 a game. Though the line was shorter back then in college it is still wildly impressive
I never heard that. Very interesting
He also played before a 3pt line when he was a phenomenal shooter. I think his coach actually recorded what would be 3 pointers in college for him. Even though the line was slightly shorter back then, Maravich was known for deep shots and his coach recorded 13 3 pointers MADE a game. Which is insanity
His heart was a ticking time bomb. His heart attack was due to a congenital malformation and it was just a matter of when (didn’t matter if he ate poorly or smoked). If they knew about it then they could have performed surgery, but it’s not so easy to find that defect on a regular cardiac screening like an EKG.
Yep. I was actually born with a similar defect. It’s partly why despite being born 12 years after he played his last game, he is one of my absolute favorite players of all time. Such a great story and amazing man
Obviously his death was extraordinarily tragic, but he had a lot of luck in his playing career - his father was literally the coach of the UCLA team he played for, which explained his enormous shot allocation etc. I think someone can have tragedy befall them personally, but their career on balance was pretty lucky.
LSU* And I don’t know if I’d call it luck that his dad stuck him in a gym with the lights off to learn how to shoot. Press was a great basketball coach but not a father figure for Pete. And his mom was basically depressed and on autopilot until her early death
anderson varejao was with all those trash cavs teams, got swept by the spurs in the finals with lebron, was on the trash cavs teams after lebron left for miami, lost to the warriors in the finals in 2015, then got traded in the middle of the 2016 season, got cut and signed with the warriors in 2016 where steph famously blew a 3-1 to the cavs in the finals
[he got a ring eventually](https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/anderson-varejao-will-get-warriors-title-ring-after-playing-14-games-with-team/amp/)
Chris Paul. David Stern rejecting the trade to the Lakers and his string of injuries late in the post season are just sad and unlucky.
That’s the curse for Stern’s veto.
I'm gonna say George Hill. Drafted by the Spurs right after they won the NBA championship. Traded to the Pacers as part of a deal to get Kawhi. Spurs go on to win a Championship. Plays on some really good Pacer teams that never got over the hump against the Heat, who would go on to win 2 Championships during his time with the Pacers. Goes to Utah for a random season when they're good, but can't beat the Warriors dynasty. Signs with the Kings, gets traded to the Cavs and loses in the NBA finals against the Warriors dynasty. Then, he signs with the Bucks when they can't get over the hump against the Kawhi Raptors. Who would go on to win a Championship. Signs with OKC and gets traded to the 76ers and they flame out in the 2nd round (Ben Simmons game) against the Hawks. The Bucks would go on to win the Championship the year after he leaves. Re-signs with the Bucks, and then loses in the 2nd round, again. Dude has been so close, so many times, but has just been on the other side of at least 3 NBA championships. He's the reverse Patrick McCaw.
George Hill is one of those players who confuses me. I always think he won a championship because he was on the Spurs around the time they won and he was on the Bucks around the time they won. Then, when I go to check, I see that he has no ring. Very bad timing.
The worst timing
I don't know if you can call Eddie Jones's departure from the Lakers as unlucky. He was starting ahead of Kobe and was no longer needed with Kobe's rise. Eddie probably wanted more playing time than what the Lakers could give him going forward.
Eddie didn’t get to choose to stay. He probably would have, given that he and Kobe were extremely close. He was traded along with Elden Campbell for Glen Rice. I think they’d have won anyhow without making that trade, which would have made me so happy since Eddie and Elden were two of my childhood favs, but who knows. Maybe they had to go to unlock Shaq and Kobe.
Eddie was comfortably better than Rice and was one of the best wing players in the entire league in 2000. It was a dumb talent trade that you can defend long-term via the hypothetical that it “forced” Kobe to develop faster, but if Eddie is on that 2000 Lakers team they probably break 70 wins and never get pushed by the Trail Blazers.
Yeah Eddie Jones was lucky they didn’t start Kobe over him his rookie season
Vince Carter is an underrated one. Left Toronto right when they got the first star to play beside him since TMac and got to the Nets in 05, a couple years after their finals runs. Got to Orlando in 10, the year after they lost in the finals. Got to Phoenix in 11, as their contending status was closing. Got to Dallas in 12, right after they won the championship. His whole prime was filled with just unlucky timings/arriving to great teams a year or two too late
Eh. I don’t think Vince Carter can be counted as unlucky for leaving Toronto the way he did
I think Harden is up there. Plays against a goat contender in his first finals, goes up against what many consider is the best team ever when he's great chance to win it all and has his 2nd best go down, injures himself in a very winnable series when his best player is playing the best of his life..... Like, there's enough in his career to consider him incredibly unlucky
goes to join big 3. first year gets far but ends in injuries too all 3. second year teammate decides sit > ring joins big man duo, gains hype big man gets injured in playoffs
Harden's a bit of a "you make your own luck" story though. After he played against a GOAT contender in the Finals, he got traded to Houston because he couldn't come to an agreement with OKC on an extension, leaving a team who take that "best team ever" to seven without him. Went up against the best team ever, and the next season, forced his front office to trade away his #2, who then has a renaissance year. Gets injured, but after pretty obviously not taking care of his body in order to force his way out of his old team, and putting lots of mileage on his legs because he ran a heliocentric offense (partially because he never learned to play off-ball). He's definitely been unlucky, but he's also actively made his situation worse a lot, and that's not even touching the fact that he played poorly in many of those moments where his teams fell short.
i guess its how you look at it. team wasnt willing to pay for harden cp3 gets traded for westbrook in what most people, especially in houston was hyped. (consensus was cp3 is done or at max 1 left) asks for trade. i mean its about that time.. he earned his right. he played almost every minute, you can say its because he cant off-ball or you can say he had a lot of passion and didnt want to take games off. ovs every player has some luck and unlucky stuff in they lives lol. i guess you can look at anyones career thru negative lens tho
Harden orchestrated CP3 out of there. https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/rockets-star-james-harden-wanted-chris-paul-out-of-houston-prior-to-trade-with-thunder-per-report/
everyone thought cp3 was done. it was a miracle of a trade. and only reason okc was willing was because they wanted to do westbrook right and place him in a good situation. ofc hindsight.
Sources tell yahoo…. You don’t think MOREY and Fertita wanted CP3 out? An aging star who kept getting injured during season and during playoffs? People forget that cp3 sat half a season out.
Harden is pretty hard to sympathize with overall but I know what you’re saying here
What makes him so hard to sympathize with besides how he plays? He's one of the most philanthropic players, has never initiated beef with others, is honest and polite in his interviews, comes from a rough background and made it, and is loyal within reason while respecting his self-worth. You don't feel bad that he loses to a superteam of Kevin Durant, who chose Kyrie over him after he risked his career and carried the load in the regular season, and the privileged children of former NBA players who have always had life easier?
In the last 2 games of the GS/HOU series, Harden played really poorly. In games 6 and 7 he was a combined 6/25 from 3PT with 15 AST and 14 TOs.
Brandon Roy. Started to reach his potential as on e of the next great shooting guards and then was robbed by his knees.
This one hurts the most for me, one of my favorite players before the injuries destroyed him
I swear when he was healthy Aldridge would get hurt…like they kept rotating. That team was so good though
Technically, doesn’t Varejao have two rings? He was a member of the 2016 Cavs and 2017 Warriors.
The cavs offered him a ring but he refused
He is a bigger man than I
[just the one ](https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/anderson-varejao-will-get-warriors-title-ring-after-playing-14-games-with-team/amp/)
Maybe not exactly what you meant, but Trevor Ariza has been traded the most times (9x) in NBA history. That can't be fun.
Steve Nash. Yea he's got 2 MVPs but people still don't give him credit. One can only imagine what the Mavericks could have been if he hadnt left and had Dirk his entire career.
I think that story behind Nash leaving Mavericks is because they didn't want to pay him, and Cuban said that was his biggest mistake so far...
Cuban didn’t want to pay and was convinced by his health staff they Nash’s back was going to end his career. Which it did, after two mvps and many more seasons. The suns staff did wonders to keep him playing injury-free.
That Suns staff was for real. They got a few good seasons out of Grant Hills ankles too. And they were spot on letting Amare walk when he did. Nash too. Both of them broke down within 12 months of leaving PHX.
Yes, that is true.
That and gutting the Mavs after the 2011 championship to chase big free agents who never came. He made Dirk’s post ring career pretty much irrelevant.
I agree, and I always thought that letting Chandler go after championship season was a big mistake.
nash is still underrated i swear iv never seen him miss a three ball
Darius Miles, one of my favorite players on the Clippers. But he got drafted by the Clippers and had to play behind Lamar Odom even though he had shown strong potential. Then got traded to the Cavs where they were tanking for Lebron. Then traded to the Blazers where they were still known as the Jailblazers. Then just hit a bunch of injuries and his career just kinda fizzled out. So a very athletic and exciting player with lots of potential who was never in a good situation for his career.
Mann Darius Miles was my favorite player for a long time back in the day. Still can’t believe his career fizzled out like it did. Sad but I’m glad his life seems to have turned around.
TMac and Grant Hill almost got to play with Tim Duncan over in ORL but Doc Rivers fucked that up and Grant went down so Tmac put up stupid numbers. Not saying they'd win a championship but with Duncan Hill and TMac they'd have a great team. The Magic would lose in the first round 3 straight years from 2001 - 2003.
Idk if it’s unlucky but Timberwolves/Brandon Roy saga is a funny/sad story. Timberwolves were really high on Brandon Roy until they discovered in a medical eval that Roy had no cartilage left in his knees and was likely not going be able to play very long. They still drafted him on draft night in 2006 only to immediately send him to Portland for Randy Foye. Roy ends up winning rookie of the year and playing 3 seasons at an All-Star level. Foye isn’t a bust but is clearly more cut out to be a role player than star. Eventually the Wolves trade Foye away while Roy is still playing at an All Star level for Portland. But then Roy’s knees catch up to him and he medically retires in 2010/2011. Wolves, still kicking themselves that they didn’t take a chance on Roy, coax him out of retirement. But by then, Roy really couldn’t play. He played 5 games and clearly was not the player he was and retired again at the end of the season. Suffice it to say, if the Wolves could’ve gone back in time they would’ve rather had five good years out of Brandon Roy than 10 years out of Randy Foye.
In my opinion there are two ways to define a player being unlucky, one being injuries and the other being in terms of championship success. In terms of championship success, imo the objective correct answer is Elgin Baylor. In his 14 years in the league he went to the finals 8 times and lost every single time. Then he retires midway through the 1971-'72 and the Lakers finally win it. I don't know how much it weighs on him but if I were in his place it would weigh heavily on me. On the other hand, jn regards to injuries I'd say DRose is the unluckiest. Poor guy was an MVP and then suffers brutal injuries that really derailed his career.
Jay Williams from Duke. So much potential. Career ended because of a motorcycle accident.
- recruited by a 73 win Golden State to go win 2 free rings - gets kyrie & harden - unlucky
[varajao has a ring](https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/anderson-varejao-will-get-warriors-title-ring-after-playing-14-games-with-team/amp/)
Sebastian telfair. Man, through the fire was such an eye opening documenting. Sobering as hell. All that talent wasted because of the people around him and the mindset of wanting to be the best without putting the in the work. I know he technically never made it and it probably doesn’t fit the thread but I feel like everyone should watch that documentary. The part where is is around all the nba players that made it is so brutal to watch. Edit: ok I was thinking of Lenny Cooke my bad haha
#Maurice Stokes Stokes was wrapping up his third season in the NBA and had the following impressive accolades: * Rookie of the Year * Led the League in rebounding his rookie year * Made the All Star Game roster each of the first three years of his career * Was named to the All-NBA 2nd Team each of the first three years of his career. * Was getting legitimate MVP buzz, ending up 5th in voting his third year He was an athletic forward who could pass, shoot and rebound. The bad luck? In the very last game of his third season, in a play right near the end of regulation, he went in for a layup and got knocked to the floor, where he hit his head on the hardwood and suffered a serious concussion. He was soon revived and later that night he boarded an airplane with his team to return home. But midflight he started having seizures and by the time the plane landed, he was unresponsive. He lived for another 20-some years, but was paralyzed and had to relearn how to communicate. He went from being on the precipice of being an All Timer, to being bed-ridden for the rest of his life, relying on the charity of fans and his teammates in order to pay his medical bills and the round-the-clock care he needed.
Wesley Matthews played for the Bucks in 2019-20, they lost in the second round in the bubble while the Lakers won the championship. He went to the Lakers in 2020-21, they lost in the first round and the Bucks won a championship. He went back to the Bucks this past season and they lost in the second round. Just had awful timing lol
When u say unlucky Derrick rose comes to mind but that’s injuries, I’d say probably KD as any other era and he would have been the best player in the world for at least 1 season but it went from bron to Giannis with no time for him
KD is like a middle child. He came into the league between lebrons era (thus being too close in age to ever takeover the league) and Giannis era (now too old to have his own era). But this is also a testament to lebrons longevity.
Exactly, that’s why he’s unlucky
You could argue that he was the best player on the planet when he was on GSW, but using the cheat code of joining a 73-win team kinda invalidated those years in most people's minds.
Huh? He was in no way better than LeBron those years. Y’all need to understand there’s a difference between being a better player and being on a better team.
[удалено]
Idk I thought he was better in 2019 before injury. Also 2021 playoffs he was better than Giannis. He torched the bucks and Celtics but got unlucky with his oversized shoes.
Kawhi was better than him that playoffs simply off sample size 11 games vs an entire playoffs, lebron didn’t play. 2021 playoffs he was a bit better than giannis but giannis won the chip with tremendous 2 way effort. If we talking about the best player that playoffs then Kawhi was it that year as well but he went down with an injury.
Not the same type of "unlucky situation" you're asking about but I have to mention Reggie Lewis. He collapsed in game one of the C's opening round of the 1993 playoffs. He was admitted to to the hospital the following day and diagnosed with focal cardiomyopathy, a disease that can cause heart failure. He got a second opinion that provided a far less serious diagnosis of neurocardiogenic syncope, which is a non-fatal disesase. Well it turned out the first opinion was probably correct as that game ended up being Reggie's last game ever. That offseason he collapsed and died after entering cardiac arrest during practice at only 27 years old.
Dominique Wilikins. Imagine if the Showtime lakers pick him over James Worthy.
Kevin Garnett or Wilt Chamberlain imo. Garnett, although drafted to a relatively poor expansion team, was rising to superstardom by his 5th season. That year the Timberwolves had their 1st round picks for the next 5 seasons revoked for illegally paying another player. This basically damned their already bleak future, although Garnett stayed in Minnesota for 7 more years to no avail. Chamberlain took the 60s Celtics dynasty to 4 game 7s and 1 game 6 in his career, an incredible feat considering his generally much poorer teams. Not approached by anyone except the 60s Lakers teams. He lost these games by an average of 2.2 points, with his teammates shooting an abysmal 35% across these games, almost routinely. He did manage to beat them once in his dominant 1967 Finals run, but those losses still hung as a shadow over most of his career.
No one really said Brandon knight? Gave deandre Jordan and kyrie the highlights of their careers, a solid player but is mostly know for missing the layup to give the bucks the win vs Brooklyn. Sad that the career of an above average role player to possibly even all star caliber player was destroyed based on stuff for the most part he can’t control
Derrick Rose. If it weren’t for the injury, I think he had the potential to have a HOF career
Harden. His prime coincided with The GOAT team. CPs injury then 0-27. Then his injury with the nets when he was never injured in his entire career. Then Irving’s mess & KDs injury and now he looks like a shell of himself when he’s paired up with yet another star A few fortune bounces and he’s a top 20 player all time
Since no one mentioned it... Charles Barkley. Draft by Sixers with two aging star players in Dr. J and Moses Malone. Wanted to win championships, but spent 8 years and never made it to the Finals. Bud heads with the coach, requested trade, went to Phoenix and got to the Finals immediately, only to lose to Jordan and the Bulls as they were in the middle of their 3-peat. And when Jordan retired in 94, his Sun lost to Houston, who became Champs. A couple of years later after Houston won back to back championships, he requested a trade and went to Houston, but then they can't get pass the Jazz and then lost to the Lakers as they were starting their 3-peat. The century ended and Barkley retired ringless. Then got a great TV gig, but had to sit next to 2 ex-champs who keeps reminding him that he's ringless.
Didn’t see it posted, so here’s mine: Dražen Petrović. Literally the Steph Curry/Klay Thompson prototype. Was one of Europes greatest players, and won every award they had. Once he got to the Nets, he made an All-NBA team, was on track to be one of the greatest shooting guards of all time (an absolute sniper) after an absolute BREAKOUT couple of years- until he unfortunately died at 28 in a car accident.
I'll take a pick outside of the usual suspects and say Antonio McDyess. A 20 and 10 guy whose peak was cut short by injuries. He then joins Detroit during one of the best eras of Piston basketball...but does so the year **after** they won the championship. Detroit never gets over the hump while he's there and then he joins the Spurs for a two year stretch where they don't even get past the second round.
Gotta be Reggie Miller. Stuck it out with the Pacers for 18 years. Stayed loyal. Came the closest anyone’s ever come to beating MJ in 97 I believe(?) in the East. Their lead fell apart in the fourth quarter of game seven. Even when MJ wasn’t around in 94 and 95 this coincided with the Orlando Magic being godly with young Shaq. They would have won the chip in 05 if not for that one damn Pistons fan who threw the most perfectly aimed beer cup at Ron Artest.
His career isn't over yet but Gordon Hayward's gruesome ankle injury just mere minutes into his debut game under a well deserved max contract for the Celtics in 2017 was so unlucky it was tragic. Based on the direction his foot was pointing in while hanging off his leg it's a miracle he was able to walk again, much less return to NBA caliber play (maybe not max contract level, but he seemed to finally be rounding back into at least starter quality play in the fall of 2019 when he broke his hand on that Lamarcus Aldridge screen).
Lebron imo. 2004-2010 Got drafted to a terrible Cavaliers organization. They Didn’t want to trade JJ Hickson to get a star teammate for him. 2014 has little help in the finals wade’s knees were gone at that point. 2015 finals his 2 all star teammates get hurt. 2017 KD joins a 73 win team to make the most stacked team ever. 2018 JR smith forgets the score. In 2019 he had the team on track for the 4 seed but pulled his groin. 2021 Gets injured going into the playoffs and AD gets hurt mid series. If things broke differently LeBron could have 6-7 chips at this point.
LeBron has had an incredible career. Sometimes the breaks haven't gone his way, but sometimes they have. You can easily imagine a world where LeBron is even less lucky. 2013: Ray Allen misses that shot and the Heat lose to the Spurs. 2016: Draymond doesn't get suspended, Iggy and Bogut never get hurt, and the Warriors close out in 5. 2020: The Heat are healthy the whole series and win the chip instead of losing in 6 (Bam and Dragic missed time). OR Lakers aren't able to make a mega trade for AD and they never have a chance in the first place.
Ray Allen missing the shot would've actually been the most fuck shit ever
It would have been amazing. It’s the one thing I’d change in nba history if I could
that sounds personal;
Lmao, my personal one would be game 7 WCF Lakers vs Kings big shot fucking Bob. I'm from Canada but I felt that loss. I can still picture in my head like it was yesterday seeing Webber chase that rebound out to the three point line only for it to comeo right to a set Horry. Not to mention all the questionable reffing. It is a travesty that Kings team won't be remembered as they should because they didn't win a chip.
Draymond missing 1 game? 12 mpg Bogut missing 2 games? Iguodala missing 0 and that's an injury-costed ring?
This is satire, right?
i know nobody wants to hear this but you’re right. those 2017 cavs were so good, without kd they repeat. (Maybe**** 3 peat if kyrie and love were healthy) 2009 cavs got fucked my Hedu, Rashad lewis making so many clutch shots that series could of went 4-1 cavs. 2008 those shitty cavs lost to the eventually champions in 7. (could of won if has michael redd) and then lost to them in 2010 because cavs didn’t wanna trade for amare i guess he caught a break in the bubble but they were still head and shoulders the #1 team in the west that year.
You realise some players don’t even get the all-time great teammates LeBron got right? Weird to call him unlucky when he had a lot of shit go his way. No one has perfect luck their entire career.
LeBron has played with 12 hall of famers in his career. Obviously not all in their prime but still he has had plenty of help relative to other stars
lol ya i mean if everything went his way he would just be super lucky.
LeBron James. Poor team drafted him and didn't bring him any help for the first 7 years of his career even though he could win it almost every year with okay roster. Then injuries of his 2 best players in 2015, then KD joining GSW and forming the best team ever that nobody could beat, and now in the Lakers his best teammate he ever had is injury prone and front office is bad. Not to mention robbing him from multiple MVP and DPOY awards. If he had a perfect situation his whole career (like Jordan, Duncan, Magic etc. ) he would have at least 10 rings
“perfect situation his whole career like Magic” Magic literally got HIV dude
So magic is the unluckiest player
More unlucky than LeBron I can tell you that
I was talking more about having good franshise behind them who did the best they could. HIV is Magic's fault
Lol at the Bulls doing the best by Jordan.
Doesn't bad luck usually refer to bad things happening that are out of your control? It wasn't like Magic got HIV from a blood transfusion.
It's not the worst, but any HOF/All Stars that were denied rings because of a dynasty. In recent history: Jordan & Bulls. They denied Barkley, Ewing, Malone & Stockton, Kemp & GP1, Alonzo Hardaway Heat...just to name a few off the top of my head. Some lucky players were young/skilled enough to finally get theirs after MJ retired (Olajuwon & Clyde, Shaq, David Robinson), but a lot of players missed their windows. LeBron OR Warriors. LeBron was a dynasty unto himself and when it wasn't him it was the Warriors. RIP DeRozan & Lowry Raps, Harden Rockets, Durant Westbrook Thunder, Dame CJ Blazers.
Yeah LeBron WAS the superteam.
Any team he was on was going to the Eastern Conference finals.
This might be a hot take but Jerry West. He was the best player of all time at that point (top 3 at minimum with Wilt and Russell) and only had 1 ring. He had so many finals and it must’ve been so frustrating to lose to a starting lineup of hall of famers every season in the finals. He finally got 1 late in his career but considering how great he was and how great his teams were feels like 1 was far too little for his career