10 Promising NBA Careers Derailed By Injuries
BOSTON (CBS) - The news of Derrick Rose's latest major injury, a torn meniscus, is very saddening for NBA fans. When healthy, Rose is one of the most electrifying guards the league has ever seen.
After all, he was the youngest player in history to ever win the MVP, and his career appeared to be one for ages until the injury bug struck him and his knees hard.
Unfortunately, Rose isn't the only high profile athlete to have a huge chunk of his career spent on the sidelines. Here are 10 NBA careers of the 2000's derailed by injuries.
A fair warning, Portland and Houston fans, this one's going to sting.
1. Brandon Roy
Brandon Roy started his NBA career off with a bang, unanimously winning Rookie of the Year en route to three straight All-Star appearances in the following years. Roy was a great two-way player; an accurate mid-range jump shooter who could finish at the rim with the best of them. Due to degenerative knee problems, Roy only played in the league from 2006-11 while missing considerable time in each season due to injuries.
2. Derrick Rose
The aforementioned Rose was another Rookie of the Year who hasn't been able to play consistently year-to-year. Rose tore his ACL in Game 1 of the first round against the Philadelphia 76ers in 2012, which led to him missing the entire 2012-13 season following the injury. Rose's highly anticipated return was put to a screeching halt November 22, 2013 when he tore his meniscus, requiring season-ending surgery. The most recent injury appears to be in the same knee as the previous tear.
3. Greg Oden
You all knew this one was coming. A once-unstoppable force at Ohio State, Oden had the characteristics to be the next dominant big man in the NBA. Instead, he turned out to be one of the biggest draft busts ever. The 2008 number one pick missed his entire first season due to microfracture surgery on his knee, and in his first NBA game, he played 13 minutes before coming down with another injury. His second full year was ended early with a fractured left patella, and it's been a free fall ever since. He is currently a free agent. How is the second overall pick in 2008 doing?
4. Andrew Bynum
Another big man full of potential, but even more full of Advil. Bynum was a stud coming out of high school, skipping the brackets and heading straight to the L.A. Lakers as the 10th overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft. Bynum was also the youngest player to ever play in the NBA at age 17, but by the 2007-08 season he had already experienced his first season-ending injury. That was the first of three straight postseason-altering knee injuries for Bynum, who went on to be traded to Philadelphia but never played a game for the 76ers after another surgery -- this time on both knees.
5. Gilbert Arenas
You never knew what was going to happen with Gilbert Arenas. One minute, he's ice cold, yelling at his teammates and coaches, the next minute he's chirping LeBron while stroking unbelievable deep treys. Agent Zero cashed in with the Wizards in the summer of 2009, signing a six-year, $111 million deal but didn't play until March of the following year due to injuries. Poor decisions such as bringing unregistered handguns into the locker room on top of various injuries effectively ended Arenas' career and position as Cleveland's playoff nemesis during LeBron's first stint with the Cavs.
6. Yao Ming
Another big man, another pair of bad legs. Simply put, when Yao was healthy, he was dominant. Unfortunately he wasn't healthy very often. Yao entered the league as the no. 1 overall pick by Houston in 2002 and quickly rose as a premier big man in his first few years with the team. In 2005 he developed osteomyelitis in the big toe on his left foot, which was the beginning of an injury-plagued career for the international superstar. After three fractures in his left foot, Yao retired from the NBA in 2011.
7. Tracy McGrady
T-Mac could do it all. McGrady made a name for himself as a young swingman on the Toronto Raptors before spending the prime of his career in Orlando and Houston. McGrady was as athletic as anyone, blocking shots, throwing down highlight-reel dunks, and stepping out for threes -- all in a beefy 6'8" frame. By the 2007-08 season, McGrady was with the Rockets and began spending more time on the sideline with teammate Yao than on the court. He went on to play for Knicks, Pistons, Hawks, and Spurs before hanging it up in 2013.
8. Amar'e Stoudemire
Another high schooler turned pro, Stoudemire has displayed uncanny athleticism throughout his career-long battle with chronic knee problems in addition to a season cut short for a detached retina in his eye. When on the court, Amar'e was as athletic of a big man as they come, fueling the high octane Suns offense of the 2000's led by Steve Nash. The injury bug followed the big man to New York, as he was on and off the court for the Knicks with various injuries until the team recently waived him a handful of days ago.
9. Shaun Livingston
Livingston showed promise coming out of high school and as the fourth overall pick in 2004. The oversized combo guard suffered a gruesome leg injury in 2007, which took over a year and a half to recover from, but his career was never the same afterward. Livingston has played on a heap of teams (Miami Heat, Oklahoma City Thunder, Brooklyn Nets, Washington Wizards, Charlotte Bobcats, Milwaukee Bucks, and Cleveland Cavaliers) since joining the Golden State Warriors in 2014.
10. Grant Hill
Dubbed the heir to Michael Jordan coming out of college, Grant Hill certainly was an all-around great. Hill won two national titles at Duke before going to the Detroit Pistons in 1994, where he rose to the class of the league in six years in Mo Town. Hill then signed with the Orlando Magic where he would go on to play only 47 games in his first three years, followed by missing his entire fourth year due to injuries. While Hill had a long, 19-year career full of honors and distinctions, he constantly missed time due to injuries and never consistently lived up to the greatness he displayed early in his career.