The Biggest One-Hit Wonders In NBA History

When looking at any specific point in NBA history, it is pretty easy to point out who the league’s best players were at the time. These are the players who were the MVPs of the league, the Finals MVPs, and catalysts for NBA championships. These scoring champions, elite defenders, and flawless playmakers helped shape the NBA into what it is today. Most of the time, these players held this standing as the NBA’s best for multiple seasons and won multiple championships or numerous accolades at a time. Then, there were the other guys.

The other guys that I am referring to are the NBA players who looked like superstars for a few months or even an entire season during their NBA careers but never even came close to duplicating that production again. We refer to these types of players as one-hit wonders. These players are some of the biggest flashes in the pan the NBA has ever seen. Whether it be injuries or other circumstances, these 10 players below looked like they were headed for extreme success at one point in their NBA careers, only to leave us scratching our heads as they drifted into obscurity.

These are the biggest one-hit wonders in NBA history.

10. Jerome James

Career Stats: 4.3 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 0.3 APG, 0.3 SPG, 0.1 BPG

One look at Jerome James’ stats in his career, and it is a wonder how he even wound up on a list that includes one-hit wonders. James played nine seasons in the NBA, five with the SuperSonics and four with the Knicks. As James entered the 2004-05 season, his impending free agency was only going to net him a minimum deal worth just a few million dollars. That all changed in the 2004-05 playoffs.

In the first round of the playoffs against the Kings, James was instrumental in the five-game series win. He averaged 17.2 PPG, 9.4 RPG, and 2.2 BPG in the series, which prompted a big offer from the New York Knicks that summer. They signed him for five years and $30 million, but to nobody’s surprise, their investment did not pay off. In four seasons with the Knicks, James never showed that same playoff output again and averaged 2.5 PPG and 1.8 RPG over four years. If that isn’t a one-hit wonder, then I do not know what is.

9. Richard Dumas

Career Stats: 10.6 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 1.1 APG, 1.3 SPG, 0.5 BPG

The story of Richard Dumas is sad and one many wish they could change, considering the talent he displayed on the court. Dumas was selected in the second round of the 1991 NBA Draft by the Phoenix Suns. However, he would miss his entire rookie season due to substance abuse issues and would not make his NBA Debut until 1992-93. Once he made his debut, it was clear why Phoenix had been so patient with him as he sought help for his issues.

Dumas would appear in 48 games with 32 starts and averaged 15.8 PPG, 4.6 RPG, and 1.8 SPG. He would even make 20 starts in the playoffs for the Suns as they advanced to the NBA Finals that year against the Chicago Bulls. Unfortunately for Phoenix and Dumas, he would be suspended for another season in 1993-94 and play just 15 games in 1994-95. He would play 39 games for the Sixers in 1995-96, but that would be the last the NBA would ever see of Dumas after being permanently banned for his substance abuse issue in 1996.

8. Mike James

Career Stats: 9.9 PPG, 2.2 RPG, 3.5 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.1 BPG

Prior to the 2001-02 season, Mike James was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Miami Heat. James would play two-plus seasons in Miami, averaging just 7.0 PPG. James would bounce around from the Heat to the Celtics to the Pistons to the Bucks to the Rockets prior to the 2005-06 season when he signed a deal with the Raptors for that year.

James would be tabbed as Toronto’s starting point guard for the 2005-06 season. He would make 79 starts and average an incredible 20.3 PPG and 5.8 APG. This included 14 games with at least 30 points and 38 games with at least 20 points for the 2005-06 campaign. The Raptors would win just 27 games, but James had shined for them all year long and would get a nice deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves for the 2006-07 season. James would average just 10.0 PPG one more time in seven more seasons in the NBA, which he spent with six different teams.

7. Jamaal Magloire

Career Stats: 7.2 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 0.6 APG, 0.3 SPG, 0.9 BPG

For most of his career, Jamaal Magloire was used as a big-bodied defensive disturbance in the paint for the Hornets, Bucks, Trail Blazers, Nets, Mavericks, Heat, and Raptors. Magloire spent five seasons with the Hornets from 2001 thru 2005, and this is where he would have the one season, in which we speak of today. In 2003, Magloire averaged 10.3 PPG, 8.8 RPG, and 1.4 BPG for the Hornets, which earned him their starting job but is hardly the season that lands him here.

In 2003-04, Magloire would have the only All-Star season of his career in 82 starts for the Hornets at center. He averaged 13.6 PPG, 10.3 RPG, and 1.2 BPG in those 82 starts and helped the Hornets reach the NBA playoffs. Magloire would have one more double-digit scoring season for the Hornets in 2005-06 before moving on in his career. Unfortunately for him and the teams signing him, Magloire never repeated the magic of his 2003-04 All-Star season and flamed out after 12 seasons in the league.

6. Bobby Simmons

Career Stats: 9.0 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 1.5 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.2 BPG

Bobby Simmons is not really known for much other than being a 10-year veteran of the NBA and a second-round draft pick out of DePaul University. Simmons would make his NBA debut with the Wizards in 2001-02 and remain there for the 2002-03 season as well after averaging 3.5 PPG and 2.0 RPG over two seasons. Simmons would head to Los Angeles to play for the Clippers, where he would become a one-hit wonder worthy of selection to this list.

After a lackluster 2003-04 season, Simmons would erupt as the Clippers’ new starting small forward. He made 74 starts and averaged 16.4 PPG, 5.9 RPG, and 1.4 SPG, shooting 46.6% from the field. This season earned him the NBA’s Most Improved Player award, but the ascension was very short-lived. After another decent season with Los Angeles, Simmons would suffer an ankle injury that cost him the entire 2006-07 season. After returning from injury, Simmons was never the same and would fail to even average 8.0 PPG in any season from 2008 thru 2012.

5. Larry Sanders

Career Stats: 6.4 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 0.7 APG, 0.6 SPG, 1.8 BPG

For the first two seasons of his career, Larry Sanders was stuck on the end of the bench, with the Milwaukee Bucks getting just 12.0 to 14.0 minutes on the court per night. He was a talented defender and elite shot-blocker, but with hardly any offensive game to speak of, he had to fight mightily for time on the court. In 2012-13, Milwaukee would finally give him that chance.

Sanders made the move pay off as he averaged 9.8 PPG, 9.5 RPG, and 2.8 BPG in 71 games played. Sanders’ 2.8 BPG would rank third in the NBA that season as the Bucks made a run to the playoffs. In a four-game series against the Heat, Sanders averaged 10.8 PPG, 8.3 RPG, and 1.3 BPG and, despite the loss, looked as if he had a promising career ahead of him. However, marijuana use and personal anxiety issues hindered that success from coming to light. Sanders would play just 55 games over the next three seasons and decide to leave the game for good at just 28 years old.

4. Tyreke Evans

Career Stats: 15.7 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 4.8 APG, 1.2 SPG, 0.4 BPG

Let me be clear about something when it comes to Tyreke Evans. He did have more than one decent season in his career, but nothing stacked up to the way he played as a rookie in 2009-10. Evans was the fourth overall pick out of Memphis in 2009, selected by the Sacramento Kings as their guard of the future. He made the move pay off by becoming the Rookie of the Year averaging 20.1 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 5.8 APG, and 1.5 SPG during his first season.

Evans would average at least 15.0 PPG in six of the next seven seasons, but there was never continuity or consistency from him again after that spectacular rookie season. By 2015-16, Evans began to suffer injuries and be caught up in the NBA’s web by his substance abuse. Evans would be in and out of lineups from that point forward. He averaged 19.4 PPG for Memphis in 2017-18 in 52 games but once again could not stay on the court enough to their liking.

3. Aaron Brooks

Career Stats: 9.7 PPG, 1.7 RPG, 3.0 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.1 BPG

Aaron Brooks was an 11-year point guard in the NBA for the Rockets, Suns, Kings, Nuggets, Bulls, Pacers, and Timberwolves. Brooks was drafted in the first round of the 2007 NBA Draft by the Rockets and would earn the starting point guard job by 2009. Brooks would average 11.2 PPG and 3.0 APG in his second season with the Rockets, in which he appeared in 80 games. The following season is when he would make his mark.

In 2009-10, Brooke would be named the NBA’s Most Improved Player averaging 19.6 PPG and 5.3 APG in 82 starts for Houston. Brooks would also shoot 43.2% from the field as he looked to be the point guard of the future in Houston. Just 34 games into the next season, Houston would trade Brooks to the Suns for Goran Dragic and draft capital. As for Brooks, he would never come close to repeating the same success from that 2009-10 season averaging just 7.7 PPG and 2.5 APG after leaving Houston.

2. Michael Carter-Williams

Career Stats: 10.3 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 4.3 APG, 1.3 SPG, 0.5 BPG

Did anyone look more like a breakout star than Michael Carter-Williams in his first season out of Syracuse? Carter-Williams was the 11th pick in the NBA Draft by the Philadelphia 76ers, and in his first game, he sent a message that they had made the right decision. He scored 22 points to go with 12 assists and nine steals. From there, Carter-Williams cruised to the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award averaging 16.7 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 6.3 APG, and 1.9 SPG on the season.

Carter-Williams looked like he was going to be a star in Philadelphia for years to come until he was traded 41 games into the following season to Milwaukee. He averaged 12.4 PPG over two years with the Bucks, but steadily, his production began to decline. By 2016-17, Carter-Williams averaged just 6.6 PPG in 45 games with the Bulls. As he bounced around the league, he struggled to stay on the court and could never put together more than 52 appearances in a season again. He appeared in one game in 2022-23 for the Magic, in which he played two minutes.

1. Jeremy Lin

Career Stats: 11.6 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 4.3 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.4 BPG

As a New Yorker who was living there during the Linsanity era, I can personally tell you that for three weeks in February and March 2012, the city was more alive than it had ever been. Jeremy Lin was an unknown name of a young point guard out of Harvard. By the end of 2011-12, every person in America knew who he was. It all started on February 4, 2012, in a game against the Nets. Lin would drop 25 points and seven assists while leading the Knicks to victory.

What followed was seven straight wins for the Knicks, led by their new overnight phenomenon. Lin would average 24.4 PPG, 9.1 APG, and 1.6 SPG in the Knicks’ winning streak and 18.5 PPG and 7.7 APG over the last 26 games of the season. Lin mixed in dramatic game-winners and unbelievable comebacks during this miraculous run, setting the sports world ablaze for two weeks. The Knicks would move on from Lin following the season, and he would have a decent stretch of play for his career thru the 2019 season, in which he won a championship with the Raptors. He was never able to recapture the magic of that 2011-12 season, but no one can ever forget witnessing the greatest one-hit wonder in NBA history. 

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