Bronny James will undoubtedly face immense pressure and scrutiny as he enters the NBA, but the expectations are actually for him are very low I believe for knowledgeable fans. If he can play out the three or four years on his contract and avoid being one of the ten worst players in NBA history, it would be considered a successful career in my opinion, after averaging 4.8ppg, 2.8rpg on a .472 true shooting and 10.3 PER at USC. For perspective, even if he could match these numbers in the NBA it would put him in the consideration of worst of all time.
This article explores the ten worst players in NBA history, setting a standard to surpass. Should Bronny extend his career and become a player in the bottom 3 percentile type of player, which would be roughly the 125th worst NBA player ever, it would be characterized as highly successful given the current expectations and where he was drafted.
Who is Bronny Chasing
When you look up list on the worst players ever in the NBA, most of these lists feature the usual suspects like Michael Olowokandi, Darko Milicic, or Anthony Bennett—players drafted highly who failed to meet expectations. These aren’t anywhere near the worst players in the NBA in actuality. Their shortcomings reflect on and are more of an indictment on the teams that drafted them than on their abilities. For instance, if Darko had been drafted 25th, I think you would consider him to have had a respectable career for that level of player. It’s only because someone drafted him over Carmelo and DWade that his narrative changes, through no real doing of his own.
I’m interested in discussing the true worst players in NBA history—those who played more than a 10-day contract or a handful of games but likely had no business suiting up at all. Criticize Darko or Olowokandi all you want, but they were still relatively deserving players of being in the NBA, even if they didn’t fulfill expectations or meet the roles others put them in. The blame lies more with the front offices.
One of the more reasonable list if you want to call it that, even ranked Cherokee Parks as the worst ever NBA player. Yet, playing nearly 500 NBA games over nine years until age 31 with a career 12 PER is far from the worst. That’s a respectable career, even for a 12th pick, and I could name dozens worse players.
Criteria
This list will focus on modern (after the merger) NBA players who had a significant sample size, excluding those who only played a handful of minutes or games. For instance, Jonathan Kerner might be considered one of the worst NBA players ever, after having achieved little in college and playing just one game, totaling 5 minutes with stats that include 2 fouls and a missed shot, resulting in a staggering -15.2 PER. We’ll discuss players instead who had substantial playing time—those who played in dozens of games or logged hundreds of minutes in their NBA careers not the Sun Yue or Jonathan Kerner’s of the world.
Greg Butler’s NBA career includes playing 55 games, averaging 1.4 points, 1.0 rebounds, and 0.1 assists per game. He shot 35.4% from the field, 0.0% from three-point range, and 71.4% from the free-throw line. His effective field goal percentage (eFG%) was 35.4%. Butler had a player efficiency rating (PER) of 2.9 and accumulated -0.3 win shares (WS) over his career.
Bruno Šundov’s NBA career summary includes playing 102 games, averaging 1.7 points, 1.0 rebounds, and 0.2 assists per game. He shot 35.6% from the field, 20.8% from three-point range, and 52.6% from the free-throw line. His effective field goal percentage (eFG%) was 36.7%. Šundov had a player efficiency rating (PER) of 5.4 and accumulated -0.7 win shares (WS) over his career.
Yaroslav Korolev’s NBA career includes playing 34 games, averaging 1.1 points, 0.5 rebounds, and 0.4 assists per game. He shot 28.3% from the field, 25.0% from three-point range, and 62.5% from the free-throw line. His effective field goal percentage (eFG%) was 31.5%. Korolev had a player efficiency rating (PER) of 5.6 and accumulated -0.1 win shares (WS) over his career.
Greg Kite’s NBA career includes playing 680 games, averaging 2.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 0.5 assists per game. He shot 43.8% from the field, 16.7% from three-point range, and 48.6% from the free-throw line. His effective field goal percentage (eFG%) was 43.8%. Kite had a player efficiency rating (PER) of 6.5 and accumulated 5.6 win shares (WS) over his career.
Jared Reiner’s NBA career includes playing 46 games, averaging 1.2 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 0.3 assists per game. He shot 34.2% from the field and 28.6% from the free-throw line. His effective field goal percentage (eFG%) was 34.2%. Reiner had a player efficiency rating (PER) of 3.9 and accumulated -0.2 win shares (WS) over his career.
Rafael Araújo’s NBA career includes playing 139 games, averaging 2.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 0.3 assists per game. He shot 40.5% from the field, 25.0% from three-point range, and 67.9% from the free-throw line. His effective field goal percentage (eFG%) was 40.6%. Araújo had a player efficiency rating (PER) of 6.3 and accumulated -0.4 win shares (WS) over his career.
Ha Seung-Jin’s basketball career includes playing 46 games, averaging 1.5 points, 1.5 rebounds, and 0.1 assists per game. He shot 51.9% from the field and 50.0% from the free-throw line. His effective field goal percentage (eFG%) was 51.9%. Seung-Jin had a player efficiency rating (PER) of 5.4 and accumulated -0.2 win shares (WS) over his career.
Luke Schenscher’s career includes playing 31 games, averaging 1.8 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 0.3 assists per game. He shot 46.9% from the field and 45.0% from the free-throw line. His effective field goal percentage (eFG%) was 46.9%. Schenscher had a player efficiency rating (PER) of 6.9 and accumulated 0.3 win shares (WS) over his career.
Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje’s career includes playing 44 games, averaging 1.0 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 0.1 assists per game. He shot 36.8% from the field and 55.6% from the free-throw line. His effective field goal percentage (eFG%) was 36.8%. Boumtje-Boumtje had a player efficiency rating (PER) of 6.4 and accumulated 0.2 win shares (WS) over his career.
Adam Morrison’s career includes playing 161 games, averaging 7.5 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game. He shot 37.3% from the field, 33.1% from three-point range, and 71.0% from the free-throw line. His effective field goal percentage (eFG%) was 42.3%. Morrison had a player efficiency rating (PER) of 7.4 and accumulated -1.4 win shares (WS) over his career.
Jason Collins’ NBA career includes playing 735 games, averaging 3.6 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 0.9 assists per game. He shot 41.1% from the field, 20.6% from three-point range, and 64.7% from the free-throw line. His effective field goal percentage (eFG%) was 41.2%. Collins had a player efficiency rating (PER) of 7.0 and accumulated 20.1 win shares (WS) over his career.
Michael Ruffin’s NBA career includes playing 414 games, averaging 1.7 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 0.6 assists per game. He shot 40.7% from the field, 0.0% from three-point range, and 45.9% from the free-throw line. His effective field goal percentage (eFG%) was 40.7%. Ruffin had a player efficiency rating (PER) of 8.5 and accumulated 6.8 win shares (WS) over his career.
Brian Scalabrine’s career includes playing 520 games, averaging 3.1 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 0.8 assists per game. He shot 39.0% from the field, 34.4% from three-point range, and 78.3% from the free-throw line. His effective field goal percentage (eFG%) was 45.0%. Scalabrine had a player efficiency rating (PER) of 7.7 and accumulated 7.6 win shares (WS) over his career.
John Amaechi’s NBA career summary includes playing 294 games, averaging 6.2 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 0.8 assists per game. He shot 40.3% from the field, 7.7% from three-point range, and 67.1% from the free-throw line. His effective field goal percentage (eFG%) was also 40.3%. Amaechi had a player efficiency rating (PER) of 8.9 and accumulated 0.5 win shares (WS) over his career.
