Making it in the NBA is already hard. Making it as a young player with the pressure of being a high draft pick is even harder. These players arrive with huge expectations, limited patience, and teams hoping they can become franchise stars immediately.
Of course, some early picks end up becoming exactly what everybody expected. Anthony Edwards, Cooper Flagg, and Cade Cunningham are only a few recent examples of young talents who quickly proved they belonged and started building their place among the league’s best players. Some prospects need more time, but the talent eventually shows up.
That hasn’t been the case for everybody.
Since the 2020 NBA Draft, several highly selected players have failed to reach anything close to the level expected from them. Some struggled with injuries, others never developed a reliable NBA skill, and a few simply looked lost almost from the start. In some cases, it’s still hard to understand how players with so much hype and such a high draft position failed this badly.
So, without wasting more time, here are the 20 biggest NBA Draft busts since 2020, ranked from the most forgivable cases to the picks that already look like complete disasters.
20. Devin Carter (No. 13 Pick In 2024)
When the Kings selected Devin Carter at No. 13 in 2024, it felt like a solid pick. He was a tough, aggressive defender, a strong rebounder for his position, and a guard who looked like he could contribute early. With De’Aaron Fox eventually gone, there was even a clear path for Carter to grow into a bigger backcourt role.
That never really materialized. He finished last season averaging 8.9 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.7 assists, shooting 41.4% from the field and just 26.3% from three. At 6-foot-2, his size already limited him, and without reliable shooting or advanced creation, it became hard to see a clear long-term role for him. Even on a 22-win team, he struggled to earn consistent minutes, especially after a 37-year-old Russell Westbrook quickly became more important in the rotation.
Eventually, Sacramento moved him to the Hawks for very little this summer, which felt like an early admission of failure. Carter still has time to develop in Atlanta, but right now, he looks more like a defensive depth guard than the future starter the Kings once hoped they were getting.
19. Tidjane Salaun (No. 6 Pick In 2024)
As Tidjane Salaun got drafted sixth overall by the Hornets, the idea was pretty easy to understand. He had the size, length, and shooting potential to eventually become a Nic Batum-type connector who could defend several positions and help without needing the ball.
So far, that player hasn’t really appeared. Salaun averaged only 6.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 0.7 assists last season. To be fair, he shot 50.3% from the field and 43.4% from three, which was a massive improvement from his horrible rookie year. There are definitely signs that he could become a late bloomer.
I just think selecting him at No. 6 was way too aggressive. He still looks more like a long-term project than someone Charlotte can trust every night, and that isn’t ideal after two seasons. Salaun is young enough to completely prove me wrong, and I actually think he will become a useful NBA player. I just doubt he ever becomes good enough to justify being selected that high.
18. Isaac Okoro (No. 5 Pick In 2020)
Isaac Okoro isn’t a terrible NBA player. He is here because the Cavaliers selected him fifth overall while hoping he would become their main defensive wing and eventually develop into a legitimate two-way starter.
The offense simply never arrived. Okoro averaged 9.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 1.6 assists for the Bulls last season, shooting 46.0% from the field and 33.0% from three. He can defend, cut, and play without demanding touches, but his defensive reputation has also become a little better than his actual impact at times.
When a team uses the No. 5 pick on a defensive wing, it is expecting at least the prototype of what OG Anunoby eventually became. Someone who can guard stars, hit threes and provide enough offense to remain important in playoff games.
Okoro stayed miles away from that level. He is still a rotation player, which keeps him low on the ranking, but six seasons later, he looks like a limited role player instead of a core piece. That is a rough return from a top-five pick.
17. Cody Williams (No. 10 Pick In 2024)
I honestly don’t have a complicated explanation for Cody Williams. He has just been really bad to start his career. Williams improved to 8.8 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 2.0 assists last season while shooting 46.8% from the field and only 21.4% from three. I won’t even go into details about how bad his rookie year was, posting just 4.6 points in 21.2 minutes on 32.3% from the field and 26.0% from deep.
The Jazz have been tanking for years and giving young players every possible opportunity. Keyonte George, Brice Sensabaugh, and even lower-selected prospects have shown more personality and more obvious NBA skills than Williams.
He doesn’t shoot, doesn’t create much separation, and rarely has a strong impact defensively. He still looks like a player trying to discover the one thing he can consistently provide. Williams is only 21, so maybe something suddenly clicks. Right now, though, he clearly doesn’t look like someone who ever had top-ten talent.
16. Rob Dillingham (No. 8 Pick In 2024)
Rob Dillingham entered one of the worst possible situations for a small rookie guard. The Timberwolves were trying to contend, Mike Conley was still trusted to run the offense, and Chris Finch wasn’t going to sacrifice wins just to let Dillingham make mistakes. That part wasn’t his fault.
The problem is that he never forced them to play him either. Bones Hyland eventually became a more reliable rotation option, while Dillingham averaged only 6.3 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 2.2 assists last season with 39.6% from the field. Minnesota eventually traded him to the Bulls as part of the Ayo Dosunmu deal.
Dillingham is shifty and fun with the ball, but he is tiny around the rim, and his jumper still isn’t consistent enough to make him a dangerous spacer. A guard his size has to be special offensively. So far, he hasn’t been.
Chicago gives him a much better chance to develop behind Josh Giddey, and he did show some better stretches after the trade. The tools are still there. Now he actually has to turn them into production.
15. Ziaire Williams (No. 10 Pick In 2021)
Ziaire Williams has had some bad luck with his situations. The Grizzlies were already competitive early in his career, and he had to fight for minutes around Dillon Brooks and several more established wings. Still, when Williams did play, he usually wasn’t very good.
He never developed into the tall two-way scorer Memphis expected. The handle remained loose, the shooting moved up and down, and his defense wasn’t strong enough to guarantee him minutes. His best season finally came with the Nets, when he averaged 10.2 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.1 assists while shooting 42.5% from the field.
Maybe that was the start of something. Williams is still only 24 and now gets another chance after signing a one-year, $3.0 million contract with the Lakers, who already have several wings competing for minutes, so nothing will be handed to him. If he can’t build on last season, he could quickly return to the back of the bench.
For a former No. 10 pick entering his sixth season, still wondering whether he belongs in a rotation is pretty disappointing.
14. Jeremy Sochan (No. 9 Pick In 2022)
Jeremy Sochan is one of the weirdest cases on this list because his career actually started pretty well. He made the All-Rookie Second Team, brought energy, defended several positions, and looked like the type of annoying player every good team needs.
Then Victor Wembanyama arrived, and everything became confusing. The Spurs tried Sochan at point guard, and honestly, it was horrible. He wasn’t a natural creator, couldn’t hit Wemby on the break, and had no jumper to make the experiment work. Once that ended, San Antonio still couldn’t find a role for him. The rebounding and defensive energy were there, but not much else.
Sochan averaged only 3.6 points and 2.4 rebounds in 2025-26 before finishing the season with the Knicks, where he barely played. Now he has signed a one-year deal with the Blazers after shooting only 28.6% from three across his career.
I still think there is an NBA player somewhere in there. But going from an exciting No. 9 pick to a prove-it contract at 23 is pretty crazy.
13. Aleksej Pokusevski (No. 17 Pick In 2020)
I understood the Aleksej Pokusevski pick; he was a super skinny 7-footer from Europe who could dribble, pass, and shoot. Every team dreams about finding its own strange version of Kristaps Porzingis.
The problem was that Pokusevski looked much better as an idea than as an actual NBA player. He averaged 7.5 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.9 assists across 168 games, shooting only 39.1% from the field and 30.4% from three. He could make one ridiculous pass or hit a step-back three, but when the game became physical or serious, he usually disappeared.
Most of his entertaining moments came in garbage time or on bad Thunder teams where mistakes didn’t mean much. Once Oklahoma City started trying to win, there wasn’t really a place for him anymore.
The No. 17 pick isn’t some franchise-changing asset, so I can’t rank him much higher. Still, the whole experiment always felt a little unserious, and Pokusevski was back in Europe before turning 23.
12. Jett Howard (No. 11 Pick In 2023)
Jett Howard is frustrating because I actually like him. He is the son of former NBA player Juwan Howard, has great size for a shooter, and has destroyed G League defenses at different points. On paper, he looked perfect for the Magic. Paolo Banchero needed spacing, and Howard was supposed to become the wing who would stretch defenses for him.
Three seasons later, Orlando still doesn’t really trust him. Howard averaged 5.5 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 0.8 assists in 2025-26 while shooting 41.8% from the field. The jumper is clearly NBA-ready at 37.2% from deep after two bad seasons under 30%, but he hasn’t shown enough defense, rebounding, passing, or physicality to stay on the court when he isn’t hitting shots.
That is the issue. Being a great shooter isn’t enough when stronger wings can attack him every possession, and he doesn’t provide much else. I still believe Howard could become a dangerous bench shooter with time. But the Magic used the No. 11 pick on him, and entering Year 4, we are still waiting for him to become a locked rotation player.
11. Jalen Hood-Schifino (No. 17 Pick In 2023)
Jalen Hood-Schifino is another player where I don’t have some deep explanation. He was simply bad at the NBA level. He couldn’t shoot, wasn’t an elite defender, and never became an interesting creator. Hood-Schifino averaged 3.9 points, 1.1 rebounds, and 1.3 assists while shooting 32.9% from the field across his NBA opportunities. Those numbers are hard to survive for any guard, even one selected much later than No. 17.
The difference between him and someone like Isaiah Collier, who was on the Jazz roster when he got sent to Utah, is easy to see. Collier also has shooting issues, but he can get downhill and create shots for teammates at a very high level, bumping his stats to 11.7 points and 7.2 assists last season, leading the Jazz in that category.
Hood-Schifino never showed one elite skill that made a coach think, “Okay, we need to keep developing this.” The Lakers moved him to the Jazz in the Doncic-Davis trade, and got released instantly. By 2025, he wasn’t even on the 76ers’ training-camp roster after 13 games with them. For a player drafted ahead of several good guards and wings, this was a complete miss.
10. Kira Lewis Jr. (No. 13 Pick In 2020)
Kira Lewis Jr. was supposed to become the fast young point guard of the Zion Williamson era for many years. Lewis had speed, could fly in transition, and looked like a smaller version of the explosive guards who were starting to dominate the league. The Pelicans probably imagined something closer to De’Aaron Fox or an early-career Ja Morant.
It’s safe to say that none of that translated. Lewis averaged only 5.2 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 1.8 assists in 131 NBA games, shooting 39.7% from the field. He wasn’t a solid enough playmaker, never became a reliable shooter, and couldn’t consistently finish against bigger NBA defenders. His speed was supposed to be his special skill, but NBA defenses basically erased it.
The painful part is that Tyrese Haliburton went one pick before him. The Pelicans were one selection away from an All-NBA point guard and ended up with someone currently fighting for another opportunity through Summer League and the G League.
Injuries hurt Lewis, especially his torn ACL, but he never showed enough before or after it. For a lottery guard selected to grow with Zion, the result was terrible.
9. Kai Jones (No. 19 Pick In 2021)
I might have never seen a player as athletic as Kai Jones since the 2021 Draft. He was 6-foot-11, ridiculously physical, and capable of moving like a wing, so I understood why the Hornets were willing to wait while he developed in the G League.
For a while, it even looked like the patience could work. Then everything went completely off the rails. Jones posted several strange social media videos, criticized teammates like LaMelo Ball, and publicly requested a trade. The Hornets kept him away from training camp for personal reasons and waived him days after the request.
He eventually returned to the league with the Clippers, but averaged only 2.2 points and 1.6 rebounds in 28 games before being waived again. He later joined the Mavericks and spent 2025-26 with Anadolu Efes, but none of those opportunities turned him into a stable NBA big man.
That is what makes this so frustrating. When I watch Moussa Diabate contribute for the Hornets now, I can’t avoid thinking that Kai Jones was supposed to become that player, only with even more athletic upside. Instead, he remains mostly a physical tool without enough awareness, discipline, or basketball development behind him.
8. Joshua Primo (No. 12 Pick In 2021)
I still don’t understand what the Spurs were doing when they selected Joshua Primo at No. 12. For context, Primo was the youngest player in the Draft and was widely expected to go much later. San Antonio clearly believed it had found a hidden guard prospect who could develop slowly and eventually become a major contributor in the future, like Dylan Harper is right now.
At first, there was nothing wrong with being patient. Primo averaged 5.8 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 1.6 assists as a rookie, and nobody expected him to become a star immediately. Then his career basically collapsed.
The Spurs waived Primo during his second season after a former team psychologist accused him of repeatedly exposing himself during private sessions. The lawsuit against Primo and the organization was later settled, with the financial terms remaining private.
The Clippers later gave him another opportunity on a two-way contract, but he never returned to an NBA rotation. The Spurs reached massively for a teenage project, and before they could even find out whether the basketball gamble made sense, everything was already over.
7. James Bouknight (No. 11 Pick In 2021)
I actually believed James Bouknight was going to be great before he made the NBA. He had the difficult-shot ability and scoring confidence that made me think he could become a late bloomer. Maybe not exactly Khris Middleton, but that type of scorer who looks inefficient early and suddenly becomes this massive shot creator that can change your team.
The problem was that Bouknight didn’t provide anything when the shots weren’t falling. He wasn’t a playmaker, defender, or merely an off-ball player, and he averaged only 4.8 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 0.9 assists while shooting 36.3% from the field during his NBA career.
His off-court issues didn’t help either. In 2022, police said Bouknight was found intoxicated and unconscious inside a running vehicle while holding a gun, leading to a DWI arrest. Charlotte waived him midway through his third season, but at least he actually played well in the G League last year, averaging 19.4 points on 48.2% from the field and 40.6% from three.
The scoring talent was obvious. Unfortunately, almost nothing else ever came together.
6. Patrick Williams (No. 4 Pick In 2020)
Patrick Williams going fourth overall remains one of the most confusing Draft moments I can remember. The Bulls apparently saw some version of Kawhi Leonard in him. Williams had the frame, long arms and theoretical two-way upside, but he had never shown anything close to Kawhi’s creation, defensive dominance, or aggression.
Six seasons later, he still hasn’t. Williams averaged only 7.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 1.5 assists last season, shooting an awful 37.2% from the field. He isn’t a major scorer, isn’t an elite rebounder, and his defense has never been special enough to compensate for everything missing offensively.
Then in 2024, the Bulls somehow made the situation worse by giving him a five-year, $90.0 million contract. He is still owed $54.0 million across the next three seasons, which makes moving him extremely difficult.
The painful comparison is Deni Avdija, who was selected five picks later, and I thought was a lock to land in Chicago on Draft night. Avdija just became an All-Star while averaging 24.2 points, 6.9 rebounds and 6.7 assists. Chicago used the No. 4 pick on a player who became a bad contract instead of a cornerstone. I never understood the pick, and somehow it looks worse every year.
5. Jaden Ivey (No. 5 Pick In 2022)
Jaden Ivey might be the saddest basketball case on this list because he was actually good. He averaged 16.3 points and 5.2 assists as a rookie, and I really believed the Ivey-Cade Cunningham backcourt could become special. The athleticism was obvious; he played with crazy speed, and there were nights where he looked impossible to keep away from the rim.
Then injuries completely damaged his momentum. Ivey suffered a broken leg in January 2025, later dealt with more knee problems, and averaged only 8.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.8 assists across 37 games last season, after a 17.6-point year in 2024-25 when the Pistons started to look like a serious contender.
He was eventually traded to the Bulls at the 2026 deadline and played only four games before another knee issue ended his season, but then the entire situation became ridiculous.
Chicago waived Ivey for conduct detrimental to the team after he posted anti-LGBTQ comments and several religious rants on social media. He responded with another long Instagram Live defending his comments, and that left a former No. 5 pick without a team entering the new season.
Ivey had enough ability to rebuild his career, but injuries, poor shooting, and one completely avoidable social media disaster may have destroyed the opportunity.
4. Johnny Davis (No. 10 Pick In 2022)
I genuinely don’t remember Johnny Davis doing anything in the NBA. That sounds cruel, but he barely even has a highlight tape because he almost never played. Davis went from averaging 19.7 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 2.1 assists at Wisconsin to looking completely overwhelmed from his first Summer League. I still have no idea how the transition went this badly.
He finished his NBA run with career averages of 3.5 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 0.6 assists. Even during 2025-26 in the G League with the Wisconsin Herd, Davis averaged 15.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, and only 1.7 assists. Those aren’t awful numbers, but they also aren’t the type of stats that force an NBA team to call back a former top-ten pick.
There was no elite shooting, creation, athleticism, or defense to build around. He just became a completely invisible presence almost overnight. Davis was a very good college player, so there had to be some basketball talent there. It simply never appeared at the NBA level, and the Wizards basically received nothing from the No. 10 pick.
3. Killian Hayes (No. 7 Pick In 2020)
Killian Hayes was just a disaster, and I still laugh when I remember Kevin O’Connor ranking him as the best prospect in the entire 2020 Draft. To be fair, I liked Hayes in Europe; he was the tempo maestro of that Ratiopharm squad. The size, passing, and left-handed creation looked super interesting.
Then he reached the NBA, and almost none of it worked. Hayes could pass, but that was basically his only reliable skill. He couldn’t finish, couldn’t shoot, rarely pressured the defense, and committed way too many turnovers for someone who created so little scoring danger.
The Pistons gave him 216 games and several chances as a starter. His NBA career averages sit at 8.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 5.2 assists. Even after returning with the Kings last season, Hayes averaged only 5.5 points and 3.5 assists while shooting a terrible 30.4% from the field and 27.0% from three.
He wasn’t some prospect who never received a fair opportunity. Detroit gave him years to figure it out, and he remained one of the worst-scoring guards in the league. Hayes had NBA-level passing for years to come. Everything else just couldn’t click.
2. Zaccharie Risacher (No. 1 Pick In 2024)
Zaccharie Risacher being second feels a little unfair because I don’t actually think he is bad. He is just incredibly normal. Risacher can shoot a little, defend a little, cut, and play within an offense.
The problem is that he was selected first overall, and there isn’t one elite skill that makes him feel remotely special. He averaged 9.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in his second season, then almost disappeared during the playoffs.
I also don’t completely blame him. The 2024 class was basically a lottery without an obvious generational prospect. Stephon Castle or Matas Buzelis might become All-Stars next season, but at the time, NBA teams clearly didn’t see one player they absolutely needed to select first.
Risacher was the guy who received the pressure, and just a few years later, Atlanta decided to end the experiment. The Hawks still moved him to the Mavericks in the offseason, choosing Lu Dort and Ryan Nembhard in the three-team trade instead. That is brutal for a No. 1 pick.
Dallas could be great for him. He can play away from the pressure and become a useful wing around Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving. But if Nic Batum had gone first overall, people would have called him a bust too, and he was absolutely amazing in his Blazers days. Risacher may become a good player. He just looks completely underwhelming for that draft position.
1. James Wiseman (No. 2 Pick In 2020)
At the start of the article, James Wiseman was already the obvious No. 1. The Warriors had Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, plus the No. 2 pick in a Draft where LaMelo Ball was still available. That was an unbelievable opportunity to extend the dynasty or trade for another established star.
Instead, they selected a big man who never learned how to play winning NBA basketball. Wiseman had the physical tools. He was 7-foot, mobile, and athletic enough to become something like a Jalen Duren or DeAndre Jordan-type rim runner. Honestly, I would have loved to see that version of him.
But his basketball IQ was terrible. He was constantly late defensively, set weak screens, chased touches, and looked completely lost whenever the game required quick reads. The injuries were devastating and deserve sympathy, especially the meniscus and Achilles problems, but even when healthy, the understanding never really appeared.
The Warriors traded him after only two and a half seasons in the deal that brought Gary Payton II back. Wiseman later bounced around the Pistons and Pacers, played four games in 2025-26, and was released from his second Pacers contract in December.
Wiseman wasn’t only a failed prospect. He was a wasted No. 2 pick during the final prime years of one of the greatest cores ever, and even two years later, they were once again lifting the Larry O’Brien without him. Nothing else on this list comes close.
