Throughout the years, there have been players who have made their name with their exceptional performances in the National Basketball Association (NBA). If we talk about the best players in the NBA, there will be plenty of names that will come to your mind. However, there are also some players who failed to make an impact with their game in the history of the league.Â
The fans mostly remember the best players who have achieved immense success in their NBA career. On the other hand, there are also some players, who looked promising in the beginning of their career, but failed terribly, and it was always frustrating to watch them play. In the following listicle, we will discuss about the top 20 worst NBA players of all time.
Top 20 Worst NBA Players
1. Mark Madsen
Mark Madsen is a former American Basketball player who currently serves as a Head coach of the California Golden Bears of the Pac-12 Conference. He had a dream start to his NBA career, where he won the title in his first two seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2001 and 2002 respectively. However, Madsen failed terribly in his nine-year NBA career where he averaged just four points and rebounds in 450 games, including 49 games in the playoffs.Â
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2. Anthony Bennett
Canadian Basketball player Anthony Bennett is our next pick in the list of the top 20 worst NBA players. There were high expectations from him when he was selected as the 1st overall pick by Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2013 NBA draft. Along with this, Bennett has also a great physique and a height that adds plus points for a Basketball player. Even after this, he was sidelined by the players who were at the same level with him in terms of physicality, but turned out to be better performers than Bennett. In the 10 years of his NBA career so far, Bennett has been able to maintain an average of just 4.4 points and 3.1 points per game in 151 matches.
3. Danny Ferry
Daniel John Willard Ferry aka Danny Ferry is a retired American basketball forward player, and our next pick in the list of top 20 worst NBA players. Ferry turned out to be superior in physicality and height but failed to make an impact with his game in the NBA. The only big highlight of his career is winning the NBA title with San Antonio in his final season in 2003. In 917 matches of his NBA career, Ferry averaged at 7 points and 2.8 rebounds per game.
4. Chuck Hayes
Chuck Hayes, aka Charles Edward Hayes Jr. is a retired Basketball players from America who has played for several teams including Albuquerque Thunderbirds, Houston Rockets, Sacramento Kings, and Toronto Raptors in his 10-year-NBA career. His poor shooting form and aim to the basket was an unpleasant sight for the spectators. Having played 644 matches in his NBA career, Hayes averaged at just 3.7 points and 5.0 rebounds per game.Â
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5. Kyle Singler
Former American Basketball player Kyle Singler came as a promising youngster when he won the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four in Duke’s 2010 NCAA championship title.Singler made his NBA debut for Detroit Pistons and had an average outing in his first three seasons. However, his performance started declining since 2014-15 when he joined Oklahoma City. After a quite good start in his NBA career, Singler ended up becoming one of the worst NBA players of all time with an average of 6.5 points and 2.9 rebounds from 356 matches.
6. Michael Ruffin
Former American basketball player Micheal Ruffin turned out to be one of the worst players in NBA history. Neither he had a skillset to play as a swingman, nor he had a enough height to take charge of the other roles. After getting picked by Chicago Bulls as the 32nd overall pick in the 1999 NBA draft, Ruffin went on to play for five teams in his NBA career, where he average at just 1.7 points 3.9 rebounds in 414 matches.
7. Pete Chilcutt
Pete Chicutt is a former American Basketball player who has played for several teams in his nine-year NBA career. He was a part of Houston Rockets’ title campaign in 1995, apart from that, he hasn’t been able to make an impact with his performance in the NBA. HAving played 584 matches in his NBA career, Chicutt has been able to maintain an average of just 4.3 points and 3.3 rebounds per game.
8. Rafael Araujo
Rafael Araujo is a former Brazilian Basketball player and the 2009 Brazilian League champion. Apart from that, there are not many points to highlight from his career. Araujo was picked by Toronto Raptors in the 2004 NBA draft and later went on to play for Utah Jazz in his three-year NBA career. He had an average of 2.8 points and 2.8 rebounds from 139 games in his NBA career.Â
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 9. Brian Cardinal
Brian Cardinal is a former Basketball player from America and has won the 2011 NBA Championship with the Dallas Mavericks. He had his best season for Golden State Warriors in the 2003 NBA championship but failed to repeat the same performance for the rest of the seasons. Having played 456 games in his 12-year NBA career, Cardinal averaged at 4.6 points and 2.3 rebounds per game.
 10. Sun Yue
Sun Yue is a former Chinese Basketball player who has played just one season in NBA with the Los Angeles Lakers, but failed to make an impact with his game. However, in a single season he ended up winning the NBA title with the Lakers. Yue is a two-time Gold Medalist in both FIBA Asia Cup and Asian Games, but failed to stand out with his performance in the NBA. It took just 10 games to figure out that Yue is not suitable for the NBA level. In these 10 games had an average of just 0.6 points and 0 rebounds per match.
11. Nikoloz TskitishviliÂ
Nikoloz Tskitishvili is a former Georgian Basketball player who has played for four franchises in the NBA. The 7-foot tall couldn’t take the advantage of his height and ended up becoming one of the worst NBA players of all time. In his four seasons in the NBA with Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Golden State Warrior and Phoenix Suns, Tskitishvili has played 172 games averaging at just 2.9 points and 1.8 rebounds per game.
12. Elliot Williams
The former American Basketball player Elliot Williams is another name in the list of Worst NBA Players of all time. He had a tremendous outing in his Sophomore year in school where he averaged 17.9 points and 4.0 rebounds. However, Williams couldn’t repeat the same in the NBA when he was first picked by the Portland Trail Blazers in 2010. In his four-year NBA career, Williams has played 109 games averaging at 4.9 points and 1.5 rebounds.
13. Javaris Crittenton
The former American Basketball player Javaris Crittenton had a career filled with controversies. After getting picked by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2007 NBA Draft, Crittenton went on to play just two seasons in his NBA career. Crittenton averaged just 5.3 points and 2.4 rebounds in 113 games and might not be seen in the court again as he is currently serving a 23-year charge in prison after he was accused of killing a 22-year-old woman in 2011.
14. DeSagana Diop
DeSagana Diop is a former Basketball player from Senegal who currently serves as a head coach for the Westchester Knicks in the NBA G league. The 7-foot tall was picked by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2002 NBA Draft, and was expected to stand out from the rest of the players because of his height. However, the things went completely opposite and Diop couldn’t capitalize on the opportunities even after playing 12 seasons in the NBA. With an average of just 2.0 points and 3.7 rebounds in 601 games, Diop turned out to be one of the worst players in NBA history.
15. Hamed Haddadi
Former Iranian Basketball player Hamed Haddadi has won several championships throughout his career including Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), FIBA Asia Cup, FIBA Asia Challenge and William Jones Cup. However, when it comes to the NBA, Haddadi looked quite dull since he was picked by the Memphis Grizzlies season in the 2008 NBA Draft. His best season came for Phoenix Suns in the 2012-13 season where he averaged 4.1 and 5.1 rebounds per game. In 151 matches of his NBA career, Haddadi had an average of just 2.2 points and 2.5 rebounds per game.
16. Adam Morrison
Former American Basketball player Adam Morrison is already a two-time NBA champion for the LA Lakers. However, there isn’t anything remarkable that he has done in his NBA career. After a remarkable college career with the Gonzaga Bulldogs, Morrison was picked by the Charlotte Bobcats in the 2006 NBA Draft. After two years with the Bobcats, he joined the Lakers with whom he won the NBA Championship twice in 2009 and 2010 respectively. In his four-year NBA career, Morrison averaged 7.5 points and 2.1 rebounds in 161 games.
17. Brian Scalabrine
Brian Scalabrine is a former American Basketball player, who has also served as an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors. Among all these, Scalabrine is also an NBA champion with the Boston Celtics in 2008. However, he couldn’t contribute much as a players and had a below average outing in his 11 NBA seasons. From 520 matches in his NBA career, Scalabrine averaged just 3.1 points and 2.0 rebounds per game.
18. Mengke Bateer
Mengke Bateer is a former Chinese Basketball player who has appeared in three seasons of the NBA winning the championship once with the San Antonio Spurs in 2003. He is considered one of the best basketball players in China having won the gold medal in the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok, but failed to make an impact with his game in the NBA. In 46 matches of his three-year NBA career, Bateer averaged 3.4 points and 2.5 rebounds per match.
19. Cherokee Parks
Another name in the list of worst NBA players of all time, Cherokee Parks is a former American Basketball player who has appeared in nine seasons in the NBA. After a standout performance in his college career for the Blue Devils averaging 19.0 points and 9.3 rebounds in his final season, Parks couldn’t continue the same in the NBA after he was picked by the Dallas Mavericks in 1995 NBA Draft. With an average of just 4.4 points and 3.6 rebounds, Parks went on to become one of the worst NBA players.
20. Hasheem Thabeet
And the final name in the list is of the 37-year -old Tanzanian basketball player Hasheem Thabeet. Coming up with the huge expectations after getting picked as 2nd overall draft by the Memphis Grizzlies in the 2009 NBA Draft, Thabeet failed to capitalize on his talent and failed terribly. Thabeet averaged at just 2.2 points and 2.7 rebounds in 224 matches of the five NBA seasons.
FAQs
Q – Who is the lowest scoring NBA player?
A – Michael Ruffin has a lowest average of 1.7 points per game in the history of NBA.
Q – Who has the worst NBA record teams?
A – Detroit Pistons have the worst records in the NBA of losing 27 consecutive games.
Q – What’s the worst +/- NBA history?
A – American Basketball player Manny Harris has the worst +/- in a game that is -57 for Cleveland Cavaliers in a match against the LA Lakers in 2011.
Q – What NBA has the most losses?
A – The Sacramento Kings have lost the most games in NBA history losing 3,244 games in total.