Greg Oden says he'll be remembered as 'the biggest bust in NBA history'

Former No. 1 overall pick Greg Oden recently declared his basketball career “over,” officially, after almost three years away from the NBA game. As if the knee injuries that forced the 7-footer to miss three full seasons during what should have been his ascendence to dominance, the alcohol issues that plagued him during his 2013-14 comeback attempt and the domestic abuse arrest that cast a darker shadow over it all weren’t gloomy enough, there is now this, via ESPN’s Outside the Lines:

“I’ll be remembered as the biggest bust in NBA history,” a 28-year-old Oden told the television program this week. “But I can’t do nothing about that.”

This comes two years after Oden told Sports Illustrated, “I know I’m one of the biggest busts in NBA history and I know that it’ll only get worse as Kevin Durant continues doing big things.” And six years after he told The Oregonian, “Is there any proof that I’m a bust? All there is proof of is that I have bad luck with injuries. When I was out there on the floor, I think I did pretty good for myself.”

That last statement came in September 2010, following two seasons in which he missed a combined 82 games. In the 82 games he did play over his first two years in the league, Oden was indeed impressive, averaging 15.3 points, 11.9 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per 36 minutes. There were flashes of brilliance that indicated the skills that made him the game’s best player as a high school senior and best defender as a college freshman would translate to NBA success, so long as he could stay healthy.

Less than two months after asking if there was any proof he was a bust, Oden underwent another knee surgery that kept him out of the entire 2010-11 season. He missed the next two seasons, too, and played just 212 more NBA minutes during a brief comeback attempt with the 2013-14 Miami Heat, before those injury, alcohol and domestic violence demons derailed his basketball career for good.

Like Sam Bowie and others before him, Oden’s career is only considered a bust because injuries prevented him from ever proving he could sustain the success that made him a top pick. Does that make him a bigger bust than guys like Andrea Bargnani, Anthony Bennett, Kwame Brown, Michael Olowokandi or Darko Milicic, whose NBA careers were derided less by health than talent?

Oden seems to think so, and that’s just sad more than anything.