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Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five! Every Friday I cover a topic related to basketball gaming, either as a list of five items, or a Top 5 countdown. The topics for these lists and countdowns include everything from fun facts and recollections to commentary and critique. This week’s Five is a list of five players whose NBA careers ended abruptly.
Not all NBA players get to ride off into the sunset with the fanfare of a grand farewell tour. In fact, there have been perennial All-Stars and all-time greats who ended their NBA careers in rather unceremonious fashion. Of course, in many cases, age and injuries were still a factor. As such, while they may have deserved a better, more respectful send-off, they’d still enjoyed fairly long careers, and were now at a point where they couldn’t quite go anymore. At the very least, it’s not as puzzling as when a younger, healthier player is seemingly pushed out of the league well before their time.
Obviously, controversy is sometimes a factor. Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf – an outstanding shooter who would thrive in today’s NBA – was effectively blackballed for his socio-political beliefs and demonstrations. Michael Ray Richardson declined to return to the NBA after his lifetime ban for substance abuse was lifted, maintaining that he’d been treated unfairly considering the leniency shown to players such as Chris Mullin. The five players I’m covering in this article may not have seen their NBA careers ended abruptly by controversies such as those, but they nevertheless went from mainstays in the league to outsiders in a blink; even as they remained both healthy and capable.
