Biggest "What If" Players in NBA History

Basketball Legends like Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, and Lebron James will go down in the history books as the greatest players to touch a basketball. If you are willing to work in this business, you will be successful. However, the players in this list were some of the greatest players before one thing or another happened, that halted their momentum. Even if their downfall was their doing, people still wonder to this day... "what if?"

Whether it be injury, or just an altercation that forces them into riding the pine, here is the list of the greatest players that we simply always wonder, "what if?"
The Top Ten
1 Len Bias Leonard Kevin "Len" Bias was a first-team All-American college basketball forward at the University of Maryland.

Don't do drugs, kids

2 Brandon Roy Brandon Dawayne Roy is an American retired professional basketball player who played for the Portland Trail Blazers and Minnesota Timberwolves in the National Basketball Association.
3 Tracy McGrady Tracy Lamar McGrady Jr. is an American retired professional basketball player who is best known for his career in the National Basketball Association, where he played as both a shooting guard and small forward.
4 Gilbert Arenas Gilbert Jay Arenas Jr. is an American former professional basketball player. Arenas attended Grant High School in the Valley Glen district of Los Angeles, and accepted a scholarship offer to the University of Arizona late in his junior year.
5 Derrick Rose Derrick Martell Rose is an American professional basketball player for the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association.

This one is SURE to get me some hate, but I will justify it. Rose has not been the same ever since his first knee injury, and because of this, has never been able to reach his full potential as a basketball player. If Derrick never got injured, the answer could be simple; he would go down as one of the greatest players of today.

He could have been one of the greatest players of all time if he wouldn't have injured his knee

6 Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway
7 Greg Oden Gregory Wayne Oden Jr. is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Jiangsu Dragons of the Chinese Basketball Association.
8 Latrell Sprewell
9 Grant Hill

Was a 1997 All-NBA First Team selection over Scottie Pippen, Glen Rice, Patrick Ewing, Gary Payton, John Stockton, Shaquille O'Neal and much more. If it wasn't for injuries, this man would be a Jordan-esk player and maybe could've won more rings than Jordan alongside Tracy McGrady and Dwight Howard

10 Yao Ming Yao Ming is a Chinese basketball executive and retired professional basketball player who played for the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association and the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association.
The Contenders
11 Ralph Sampson
12 Vince Carter Vincent Lamar "Vince" Carter is an American professional basketball player for the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association.
13 Hank Gathers

One of the greatest scorers since Pistol Pete.
Tragically died on the court, in the middle of a game.

14 Arvydas Sabonis

Possibly the third-greatest big man in history, behind only Wilt and Kareem, and actually ahead of Shaq. Due to the cold war, he was stuck on the USSR national team. By the time the USSR fell and he was able to join the NBA, he was old, nearly crippled by the year-round schedule and multiple hack surgeries he had endured, and yet still managed to have a solid career virtually playing on one leg, his massive size and high basketball IQ serving him well; sort of like a much larger version of Tim Duncan.

15 Earl "The GOAT" Manigault
16 David Thompson

Don't take drugs- ever.

17 Ron Artest
18 Reggie Lewis

A beast at scoring, midrange game and offensive rebounding tenacity will never be seen again, by anyone of this caliber. He sadly died of an enlarged heart in his prime, much like Hank Gathers.

19 Drazen Petrovic

He died in a car crash in his prime.

20 Tyreke Evans

He was a beast before his injury but he is making a comeback with the indiana pacers.

21 Stephon Marbury
22 Josh Jackson
23 Dragan Bender
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