Most fans don't realize how much career value ______ lost due to injury.

[Pharmcat]

Who's a player that lost a lot of career value due to injury but most fans don't realize how much?

How is Derrick Rose not mentioned yet...?

Because most fans do realize it.

Yeah I may be off but I took the OP meaning the player had shown he was going to be great not necessarily had shown they were already great like Grant or even Penny etc or a D Rose who'd won an MVP.

That's why I went with Paul George.

He'd shown he could be great and was on his way to being the next big superstar then outta nowhere comes James Harden in Houston Yr 1 who quickly shot up the player rankings and George became a second banana again as far as best SG.

During this time it was Kobe Wade Manu Klay PG and Harden fighting for that title and clearly Wade and Bean were at the end of their careers.

What injury did Paul George have?

[OdomFan]

Man oh man. I really wish Grant Hill could some how get a second chance. That guy was too good, but it was amazing to see him get to go to phoenix and have that medical staff over there extend his career.

Wish Greg Oden would have gotten to go there to get worked on. Roy too.

[Harry Garris]

Paul George should be the first and only answer.

Pacers George literally gave LeBron AND Wade fits then he changed his # to 13 and tried to show James Harden who went to HOU and was becoming the new man in the NBA he was a superior SG in the Olympic scrimmage and he became... human so to say.

Yeah there's others but Paul George is it. And I loved me some Penny who is my other choice.

Still fantastic but not super exceptional like the trajectory he once had.

I don't think Paul George's career trajectory really changed all that much with the injury. He was very good his age 23 season, his last year before the injury, but he still became a significantly better player in OKC and now on the Clippers than he ever was in Indiana.

In Indiana he was a #1 option and since he left he's been a #2 guy, so I get that there's some kind of loss of prestige when you're not "the guy" on a team, but he still became a better basketball player and fulfilled the potential he had.

[OdomFan]

Terrell Brandon is another. I liked watching him play when I was a kid. That guy could have been something if not for the injuries.

[Almond2Oak]

Greg Oden for me… so much promise and a ridiculous ceiling destroyed by those injuries.

Sabonis probably would be #1 had the damn soviets not used him like a trained mule but given his injuries and USSR, his NBA career would’ve been short unfortunately given he was 30 by the time he got to states. Would’ve loved to seen his play when he first got drafted when he was 20 though. He was Jokic before Jokic was even a nut in his dads sack.

[Castle Black]

Greg Oden was looking legit before his knees gave up on him.

And then the usual suspects: Grant Hill, Penny Hardaway, Brandon Roy, Derrick Rose, etc.

[ForeverTFC]

Reggie Lewis RIP. Jordan said nobody played tougher D on him than Lewis.

Some other good names here too.

People obviously know KG well but how different he was esp on offense before and after 09 isn’t that well recognized.

KG had already spent ~ 14 years in the league and was well past 30 at that point. We all saw peak KG. Not sure he's the right answer to this question.

An underrated name I'll throw out there is TJ Ford. He was balling with the Raptors and then Horford committed one of the worst fouls I've ever seen. Of course, that was a culmination of spinal injuries building up over his career.

Watch on YouTube

[JasonStern]

Adam Morrison. Guy probably wouldn't have been an all star, but he would have been a solid role player. Instead, he was the butt of the joke from those Kobe/Gasoline Laker teams.

Obscure, but Elliot Williams had freak athleticism.

Less obscure, but peak Darius Miles was a human highlight reel.

Oden, Sabonis, Walton, Rose, Roy, Penny, Hill, Arenas, etc. aren't really that obscure but otherwise fit the criteria.

[miamiheat319]

DJ Augustin.

Charlotte shocked everyone when they picked him instead of Brook Lopez while already having Kemba and no decent bigs.

DJ had a very fruitful rookie campaign showing nice chemistry with Waller before the leg injury shortened his season. After it he became a pedestrian career backup PG.

Augustin was drafted 3 years before Kemba

[ChiTownHero1992]

Derrick Rose was first to mind but I think by now people know he was MVP and would've had a great career otherwise.

Others Brandon Roy, Kawhi would be unstoppable if it wasn't for injuries/load management. Ming's career was cut way to short, could've gone down as one of the top 5 C's all time without injury!

[QPR]

How did this thread turn into "players everyone knows got cruelled by injuries"?

[TwitterFingers]

Blake Griffin had the micro fracture surgery his first year in the league. I think if he would’ve sustained his athleticism his career might have been a lot better than on how it played out

[jehosafats]

First and foremost, Grant Hill. He was the epitome of positionless basketball before it was cool. He had all sorts of injuries which could sometimes seem mysterious. I thought he would never play again, and then he came back after over a two year absence and still averaged 20pts. Honorable mentions:

Kerry Kittles
Jamal Mashburn
Larry Johnson

[dautjazz]

Derrick Rose was first to mind but I think by now people know he was MVP and would've had a great career otherwise.

Others Brandon Roy, Kawhi would be unstoppable if it wasn't for injuries/load management. Ming's career was cut way to short, could've gone down as one of the top 5 C's all time without injury!

Yao never even finished higher than 12 in MVP voting, and he got his first major injury at 28. Most of his accolades are in large part to NBA having almost no good centers (All-NBA), and China for his All-Star starts over Shaq (who was better for many of them). No way he had top 5 potential over Kareem, Wilt, Shaq, Russell, or Olajuwon. I don't think he had potential for top 10.

[LakersLegacy]

Kobe - he was only 31 years old when he won his 5th title. He had a motor and a skill level where he could have played much longer had he not had a horrendous Achilles injury that he never recovered from. Math says that if he didn’t have the Achilles injury he would have become the NBAs all-time scorer. That’s significant.

He wouldn’t retire because he was capable of playing injured. This guy would shoot left handed if his right arm was seriously injured and still play.

Everything after the Achilles was injured Kobe.

[Adelheid]

suppose victor oladipo would be on that list

[Roscoe Sheed]

Gordon Hayward. There was a point in time he was better than Jimmy Butler and Paul George.

he was definitely an all star level talent, but I never thought he was better than either of those guys

[Roscoe Sheed]

Kobe - he was only 31 years old when he won his 5th title. He had a motor and a skill level where he could have played much longer had he not had a horrendous Achilles injury that he never recovered from. Math says that if he didn’t have the Achilles injury he would have become the NBAs all-time scorer. That’s significant.

He wouldn’t retire because he was capable of playing injured. This guy would shoot left handed if his right arm was seriously injured and still play.

Everything after the Achilles was injured Kobe.

he somewhat had his own stubborn competitiveness to blame for that- coupled with D'Antoni having no spine. He shouldn't have allowed him to play every minute of every game. At some point you have to save a player from himself.

[Roscoe Sheed]

Who's a player that lost a lot of career value due to injury but most fans don't realize how much?

Because most fans do realize it.

Yeah I may be off but I took the OP meaning the player had shown he was going to be great not necessarily had shown they were already great like Grant or even Penny etc or a D Rose who'd won an MVP.

That's why I went with Paul George.

He'd shown he could be great and was on his way to being the next big superstar then outta nowhere comes James Harden in Houston Yr 1 who quickly shot up the player rankings and George became a second banana again as far as best SG.

During this time it was Kobe Wade Manu Klay PG and Harden fighting for that title and clearly Wade and Bean were at the end of their careers.

What injury did Paul George have?

he broke his leg while playing for Team USA

[BigGargamel]

Some not so obvious guys.

Jay Williams (mostly a what if? situation)
Shaun Livingston (pretty well known)
TJ Ford (just a culmination of spinal injuries for a small guy)
Andrew Bogut (wasn't the same after his bad injury)
Danilo Gallinari (could have been so much better if he didn't miss an entire year)
Brandon Jennings (had a 55 point game like a month into his career)
Jabari Parker (reminded me so much of Carmelo Anthony as a scorer, his early injury sapped his athleticism, and he wasnt the most athletic to begin with)
Dante Exum (really talented, but needed those early years of development that were lost to injuries)
Markelle Fultz/Lonzo Ball/Jonathan Isaac (three of the top 6 picks of the 2017 draft. Doubt any of the three will ever reach their true potentials)