3 most regrettable #1 draft picks

#2 Michael Olowokandi - Drafted by LA Clippers in 1998

Career Statistics: 8.3 PPG, 6.8 RPB, 0.7 APG.

Michael Olowokandi

A draft that saw the top 10 feature three locks for the future NBA Hall Of Fame in Vince Carter at five, Dirk Nowitzki at nine and Paul Pierce at ten. Unfortunately, for the Los Angeles Clippers, they would not select any of this perennial All-Stars but instead pick Michael Olowokandi, a centre who would start more than 40 games only three times in his ten-season career.

Olowokandi played for the Clippers for five years, and was thought to be one of the best free agents available at the end of the 2003 season, after finishing the last 20 games of the 2002 season with 17 points a game and 11 rebounds. Sadly, after 36 games in the 2002-03 season Olowokandi sustained an injury that kept him sidelined for the rest of the year and started a trend of inconsistent play and constant injury troubles.

In the five years after leaving LA, three with the Timberwolves and two with the Celtics, Olowokandi never came close to the heights the number one pick once promised. After failing to start a game in the last two seasons in his career, and averaging 2.8 and 1.7 points per game in those seasons, Olowokandi called time on his underwhelming career and retired.