The Worst Bloopers in NBA Basketball
When Professional Athletes Make Unprofessional Mistakes
Sep 17, 2008
As popular as NBA players are they certainly are not immune to the occasional blunder. Here's a selection of a few of the most notable.
Sam Bowie (Portland Trail Blazers; draft day 1984): Bowie was never responsible for any one, singular blooper moment - his whole career was one. The Blazers passed on future Hall of Famer Michael Jordan to draft the 7'1" Bowie, who played in 511 games over 10 injury-riddled years and averaged 10.9 points per game. Jordan, by contrast, played in more than twice as many games and won 6 championships over a 15-year career that cemented him as arguably the best to ever play the game. The Blazers also passed on two other pretty decent players in that draft with names such as Charles Barkley and John Stockton.
Shaquille O'Neal (Los Angeles Lakers vs Seattle Supersonics; 2000): one of the worst free throw shooters in NBA history, Shaq truly lowered the bar in a game against the Sonics that saw him miss all 11 of his attempts from the charity stripe. It established a new league record for the most consecutive misses and confirmed that the word "charity" doesn't apply to the stripe when Shaq is behind it. It also inspired opposing teams to create a defensive scheme for handling the "Diesel" that became known around the league as the Hack-A-Shaq.
Darrell Armstrong (Orlando Magic; Slam Dunk Contest 1996): Armstrong has had an impressive NBA career of 14 years and counting and is well respected around the league for his defensive prowess. Even though he's only 6'1" (short in NBA terms), Armstrong also has the ability to dunk. This landed him a spot in the '96 Slam Dunk Contest where shocked the fans by actually performing a reverse layup while attempting one of his "dunks." Basketball analyst Kenny Smith swiftly declared it the worst dunk in Slam Dunk Contest history.
Chris Webber (Michigan Wolverines vs North Carolina Tar Heels; 1993): before Webber became an NBA star he made one of the biggest blunders in basketball history when he called a timeout with 11 seconds left and his team up by 2 points in the NCAA championship game. The Wolverines had no timeouts remaining and Webber was whistled for a technical foul that helped the Tar Heels clinch the game. It was the last game of Webber's collegiate career but he went on to redeem himself by playing 15 solid years in the NBA.
