One of the worst first-round draft picks in NBA history?
That’s what former Minnesota basketball star Royce White is, according to Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey. Morey told Rockets.com that drafting White with the No. 16 pick in the 2012 Draft was one of the worst moves of his career.
“I take some sort of pride that you could argue that Royce White is the worst first-round pick ever,” he said. “He’s the only one that never played a minute in the NBA that wasn’t just a foreign guy staying in Europe. It just shows we swing for the fence.”
As the Houston Chronicle recalls, White spent his rookie season battling his well publicized anxiety disorder and fear of flying and never played in a game. He was later traded to the Philadelphia 76ers, who cut him before the current NBA season began.
According to Pro Basketball Talk, White is one of five other players that have been drafted in the top 16 to never play in the NBA. Two of them were drafted in 2013 and are expected to eventually play. Another was Len Bias, the former No. 2 overall pick of the Boston Celtics, who died of a cocaine overdose just two days after being drafted.
That leaves White in a rare class with former Orlando Magic draft pick Fran Vasquez and former Knicks selection Frederic Weis, whose career reached it’s pinnacle in the worst possible way when one of the NBA’s all-time great dunkers – Vince Carter – jumped over his head to posterize him during the 2000 Olympics. Here’s the video.
