While Indiana basketball has produced some of the greatest players in hoops history, not all of them quite lived up to their billing in the NBA.
One of the most highly anticipated parts of the NBA offseason is the NBA Draft, which takes place yearly towards the end of June. It’s a time when college basketball and international players see their dreams come true as they are selected by the thirty NBA franchises.
Often times those top-level picks find success in the NBA while it’s a much more significant challenge for those taken late or in the second round of the Draft.
However, being taken early in the NBA Draft is not an indication that a player will be successful at the professional level. Every season provides a share of players who bust; guys who fail to live up to expectations or simply don’t perform at the NBA level.
It’s an understandable part of the Draft, seeing as how these rosters are only so deep; there are only so many minutes and impact that new players can make on a yearly basis.
We’re focusing specifically on Draft busts today, but we’re honing in on one specific university. Indiana University has had a significant basketball history, winning 5 national titles and producing a significant amount of basketball talent.
In all, 77 different Hoosiers have been selected in the NBA Draft, dating all the way back to Ward Williams in the 1948 draft. Four drafted Hoosiers are in the Hall of Fame, while countless others have made a significant impact in the pros.
We’ll be ignoring those success stories and instead looking at the ten biggest draft busts among former Indiana Hoosiers in NBA Draft history. The definition of a draft bust is a pretty loose definition, but we’ll be focusing solely on players taken in the first round that didn’t live up to expectations.
Players like Steve Alford or Keith Smart were taken too late in the draft to be considered. Today’s list contains players from a plethora of eras for the Hoosiers; let’s get right into the names.